The talented Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai utilizes elements from his past films to create a movie that blends classic elements of romance and science fiction in 2046.
The incomparable Tony Leung portrays writer Chow Mo-Wan, who works to escape from painful memories of love both in his life and through his writing. He believes that he is writing about the future, but in fact, he is actually living through memories of his own past. In his novel, there is a mysterious train that occasionally leaves to take its passengers to the year 2046. For everyone who rides the train, their goal is to recapture lost memories. And though it is believed that nothing ever changes in 2046, that is only a theoretical because no one who ever went to that future time ever returned. Chow Mo-Wan is the one exception.
Along with Tony Leung, whose character incorporates some of the elements of his work in Happy Together, the film is filled with some of the greatest actors working in Hong Kong cinema. Carina Lau portrays the same character she played in The Days Being Wild, while Faye Wong's character is similar to one she had in Chung King Express. Zhang Ziyi portrays Bai Ling, a woman who moves in next door to Chow Mo-Wan and becomes his lover.
2046 was one of the major entries at the 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards alongside Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. While Hustle won Best Picture, 2046 was still able to capture awards for Best Actor (Leung), Best Actress (Ziyi), and Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle). Like much of Wong Kar-Wai's work, it should receive a strong reception from devotees on its theatrical debut. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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