[This is mostly a condensed version of something posted
here 15+ years ago, but in the time of blatant Chinese
violation of its political settlement with Hong Kong and
the UK, it is a poignant time to revisit the film.]

_2046_ features characters from director Wong Kar-Wai's
_In the Mood for Love_ and _Days of Being Wild_, but its
closest spiritual sibling may be _Ashes of Time_, Wong's
other magnum opus. Both films are narrated by a cynical
protagonist who fantasizes about stepping into the shoes
of his acquaintances. _Ashes_ is an unauthorized,
revisionist prequel of a martial art epic novel series
so universally beloved it is almost the ex-colony's
creation myth. _2046_ is an epic too, disguised as
short stories about love, but it turns to the future,
the "2046" expiration date attached to the colony's
autonomy. (If you listen to the end credits carefully
you'll hear someone -- Margaret Thatcher? -- mention
this.) It is especially poignant to rewatch now.

I expected something like a _Blade Runner_ retread
about mortality. Instead _2046_ circles back to the
collective past, true legacy, and shared cultural identity
without which a common future is meaningless anyway.
Tony Leung's disillusioned protagonists starts out
as the poster child of the "horses will race,
nightclubs will continue" materialistic stasis in
Thatcher's political settlement, but finds redemption
in the women around him. Two Christmas Eve sequences,
with Zhang Ziyi and Faye Wong respectively, underscore
the film's humanistic, almost religious trajectory.
The first channels Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the
music used in his films, leads to seduction, a torrid
affair in the cold night; the second, Krzysztof
Kieslowski, with two lover-surrogates finding in
each other selfless, tender mercy.

The editing and two-shots are astonishing, framed like
tennis matches. The period production design and colloquial
Cantonese dialogue are so authentic. Another part of
Hong Kong's identity the film captures well is its
profoundly multicultural nature. Japanese anime
motifs (bullet trains, robots), Italian opera arias,
Norwegian neoclassical pop, and of course the French-
and German New Wave cinematic influences are as
prominent as homages to Wong's previous films.

Wong is such an underrated director of actors; Tony
Leung and the actresses all gave career-defining
performances. With his broad knowledge of Eastern
and Western literature, I always knew there is a
humanistic masterpiece in him. If he had not made
_2046_ I would never have forgiven him. The film
also marks a grand reconciliation, his transition from
Enfant Terrible at war with his heritage (parental
figures in his previous films only show up long
enough to reject the young protagonists) to guardian
of the ex-colony's cultural legacy. _2046_ was
the last of his masterpieces; he needs to get
back to writing screenplays himself.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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