2046

The first thing that struck me about the film 2046 was that it kept switching between Chinese and Japanese. I understand just enough Japanese to know when I'm hearing it, and for a moment I was really confused as the actors hopped from one language to another. It turns out the film takes place in 1960's Hong Kong, and the languages do indeed swirl around between Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

The language confusion was just the beginning of the dream-like, slightly confusing experience of watching 2046.

Spec fiction fans will understand perfectly when I say that although it is not a sequel, 2046 does share the same fictional universe created by Wong Kar-wai in two of his previous films. It's a little harder to explain how the sci-fi element fits into the picture. 2046 actually looks back in time, yet the reveries of its protagonist are filled with femme-fatale androids and a train which, once boarded, becomes almost impossible to escape.

2046 is a gorgeous film. The cinematography is only matched by the music, which is haunting, appropriate, and so thematic as to become a major part of the storytelling. The acting is also superb. Ziyi Zhang, an actress I've mentioned before (see my review of The Road Home) is involved in one of the more deeply explored liaisons with the leading man, played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai.

2046 wasn't created from a polished Hollywood-style script, in which conflict and character are artfully balanced to take the viewer on a digestible hero's journey. Wong Kar-wai seems to be more interested in creating an atmosphere, a mood linked to time, place, and circumstance, in which the viewer becomes intimately involved with the characters. Almost any element of the film could stand on its own to tell the story- the dialog, the acting, the camera shots, the lush soundtrack. And when all these elements come together, complementing one another, the viewer ends up not just with a film, but with an experience.