2046

Continuing with the movie related theme I seem to have going here (if one can have a theme going after only one post, that is)...

Coming back from Japan, one of the things about America I have rediscovered is the good, old fashioned public library. Mina and I have been going there to borrow books on CD for some of our trips of late, and also to borrow movies that we are trying to catch up on. This week, I borrowed Wong Kar-Wai's "2046", which I had actually seen 4-5 times before, but always with Japanese, rather than English, subtitles.

Wong Kar-Wai's movies are always such incredible visual pieces, and "2046" is no exception. The use of color is very interesting, with backgrounds changing from green, to yellow, to red and some character's clothes never failing to match the color of the curtains. Why? I have no idea, but when the curtains in the same hotel room change color from scene to scene, there must be a point. Perhaps it is to signify the passage of time?

Anyway, I thought that Tony Leung was good in a reprise of his role in "In the Mood for Love", and both Gong Li and Faye Wong were excellent in their respective short parts. As many reviewers have said, though, Zhang Ziyi stole every scene she was in. Now, I think Zhang Ziyi can do no wrong, but her performance in this film was incredible; we feel her love and her loss and her disdain at only being considered a piece of meat for sale. Her humanity is undeniable.

Was she as good as Faye Wong was in Chungking Express (easily my favorite Wong Kar-Wai film, and a top five Asian film)? No. But, it certainly was one of Zhang's best performances, along with her young girl in love in "The Road Home" and her resistance fighter in "The Purple Butterfly".

So, all in all I still think that "2046" was an incredible visual piece, but that it didn't quite work as a continuation of "In the Mood for Love". I never quite understood what the point of Kimura Takuya's Japanese character was, especially why he was the narrator, nor did I have anything invested in his character's relationship with Faye Wong's hotel owner's daughter. Boiling the movie down, it was the nuanced relationships between Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li that were intriguing, making the relationship between Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in "Mood" seem all the more tragic.