"2046" by Kar Wai Wong (2005)

A marvellous movie by Hong Kong director Kar Wai Wong, with an original script, innovative film narrative, wonderful characters and a super-stylish visuals. The movie depicts with realism, nostalgia and lyricism the difficulties and constrictions of the human heart, to love and being loved.

It is a nostalgic view to the bygone loves of Tony Leung's, a part-time journalist and writer of romance novels, who lives in room 2047 in a hotel in Hong Kong. 2046 is the room where some of the stories happen, and also the title of Tony's sci-fi novel. The movie is the continuation of In the Mood for Love, and some references are directly related to the story in that movie.

1/ The visuals
The first thing that will catch your eye are the rich deep colours of the movie, especially the gorgeous reds and greens, but also the beautiful interior cinematography, the dresses, the make-up and hairdos, the colourful retro atmosphere and vintage texture of the film, the super-classy style of the film. Even the smallest detail is taken care of.

2/ The story
Two main themes are explored in the film, love and literature. The movie tells several love stories, but they are not corny, as this movie is a reflection on real love - about how the past conditions our present relationships, about how love obsession can self-sabotage your emotional life, about those people who love us but we cannot love, and about the importance of timing in love.

Secondly, the movie depicts the process of literary creation, how our life and experiences affect our writing consciously or not, and how they are intricately mixed together.

Tony's character is terrific so realistic and sophisticated at the same time, without all his human flaws well visible to the viewer. The women characters are quintessentially female, clever and powerful, and drop- dead gorgeous.

3/ The narrative
The narrative is circular but not straightforward as the different love stories are not chronologically told. The movie starts with one important story that happened in the past, and ends with the same story, as this story is the one that affected Tony's heart the most. Moreover, this circular and hopping movement is affected by the insertion of pieces of the present, in which Tony writes his novel 2046 and reflects about his past.

The narrative breaks the love stories in different pieces, placing them according to the heart, not according to the time in which they occurred. This honours Tony' emotional memory, although emotional memories are never linear, and they are also affected by our present. Moreover, the way the story is told is intensely evocative and full of nostalgia, and really engaging from a mental point of view. I think that a linear script would have ruined the movie and had a soapy effect.

4/ The acting
Tony Leung Chiu Wai (as Tony Leung), Ziyi Zhang (as Bai Ling), and Faye Wong (as Wang Jing-wen and the android) are terrific in their performances, completely in tune with the needs of their characters. This is specially true in the case of y Ziyi Zhang, who looks ravishing beautiful and offers an unforgettable depiction of an emotionally multifaceted woman. One wonders why such a fine talented actress is doing crappy movies in Hollywood while she can really perform.

Kar Wai Wong is a rare example of true artist, and this movie is a perfect example of that. Beware, this is not a movie of mainstream watchers or if you are just looking for a bit of fun.

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In the Mood for Love = Fa yeung nin wa by Wong Kar-wa (2000)

The Mood of Love, called in Chinese "The Flourishing days" or "the Age of Blossoms", is a stylish sophisticated movie about the golden era of Hong Kong in the 1950s and the tricky paths of love. This is the prequel to Kar Wai Wong' 2046.

Journalist Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) rents a room in an block of apartments, next door to secretary So Lai-zhen (Maggie Cheung), who moves in the same day. Although both are married, we never see their partners, but soon we learn that they were having an affair and have escaped together. The abandoned couple wonders how that romance started and developed, and try to re-enact the paths that brought their ex-partners together.

This is a movie about how important timing is in love, to be ready to accept love and be loved, and movie about silent secrets. A movie about being unloved despite loving. This is a slow cooking romance with a traditional courtship with barely any flesh or sex on display (just one of the bonus images in the DVD show something), still it has a great sensuality. Dialogues are less important than glances, body language, touch and old courtship codes are.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung have a great chemistry in camera and this is very important in a movie like this, that relies on physical attraction, unspoken and understated gestures to develop the romance. All the supporting actors are fine in their respective characters.

As all Wong's movies, the visual style is stunning, with intense yummy warm colours, luscious personal characterisation, decoration and attention to the detail, from the music to the dresses, from the food to the attitudes of the characters. The Hong Kong and Singapore of the 1850s is magnificently brought to life here. The cinematography is full of artistry. The music is beautiful, a mix of Latin-American boleros repetitively sang by Nat King Cole, which were very trendy in Hong Kong and Singapore at the time, mixed with some Chinese classical pieces. The music truly helps to build the mood of the movie.

Food is very important in this movie. In fact, Kar Wai Wong, intended to focus on that, and call it Three Stories About Food, but ended just focusing on the story A Story About Food, which is the one in this movie. You will notice how important are local eateries in the movie, both as a way of socialising, meeting new people, and eating. Moreover, many of the dishes prepared and mentioned in the film are seasonal, related to specific periods of the calendar, and therefore they act as a culinary almanac of the movie. This is very difficult to notice if you don't know much about Chinese culinary culture.

One of those movies that really gets under your skin, and stays with you for a long time, despite its apparent simplicity. A classic romance movie that men will love to watch, too. Beware, this is a slow movie. Be patient and you'll be rewarded.

Grand class

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