The Flicker

A Flicker Reflection - 2046 (2004)

Posted in My Flickin' Reviews

11Dec

2046dvd

2046

2004

Rated R

Directed by: Kar Wai Wong

Source: Netflix

Plot: A womanizing freelance writer’s half-hearted quest to find love.

Acting: A masterful performance from a trio of seductive ladies. The dude is a doosh tho.

Special Effects: Only present during the train sequences. Would be a cool screen saver.

The Skinny: Never did I more want to reach thru the screen and choke a man.

Continuing my swing through the Orient we find 2046, said to be the third of a trilogy of flicks by the Hong Kong director Kar Wai Wong focusing on his main character, a man named Chow. Admittedly I have not seen the first two movies Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love but Wong is very well known and I would imagine they are similar in deep character studies with soft color settings. Wong’s film making skills definately are motivating me to seek the first two flicks although the main character Chow is really hard for me to swallow. We’ll get into that later. First, the story of 2046. Our flick revolves basically around Mr. Chow, a gambling, hard drinker who loves the ladies. Although there are many honeys who pass through Mr. Chow’s door, our movie focuses on three specific love interests. The first we are introduced in the opening. Living in Singapore Chow becomes down on his luck almost broke. With no job prospects and a heavy drinking habit Chow does what any of us would do: heads to the casino. Wait, what? Yes, Mr. Genius gets hooked at the casino and damn near loses his shirt. He becomes friends with an actual successful gambler named Su Li-Zhen. She graciously offers him to stake her from there on out so he can recover his losses. She wins his money back while he falls in love with her. She is mysterious with a questionable past. After he saves up enough thanks to his sugar mama Chow decides to move to Hong Kong in hopes of landing a journalist gig. He begs her to come with but alas, she can not. He is devastated but still goes and it obvious this was his one true love and proceeds to spend the rest of the movie chasing that high. So when he arrives in Hong Kong he throws himself into his work. At that point his work consists of a sci-fi novel, more drinking, and banging bitties.

During this time he meets love interest #2 Bai Ling, a hauntingly hottie who moves in next door at the hotel Chow is staying at. The character Bai Ling is played by Zhang Ziyi and honestly, she’s the reason 2046 made it on the flicker queue. I’ve had a crush on her ever since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Seriously, am I wrong?

ahhh Memoirs of a Crush-on-ya

They begin their relationship as just drinking pals but after a long pursuit Chow is finally in there like swimwear. And here is me wants to slap Chow part one. After allowing her to fall in love with him, he can’t stop making trips to the salad bar. At one point she is even cool with it, as long as he can commit to some form of love for her. He stands with a stupid grin on his face and declines forcing her to tears running out of their room. She moves away and again he jumps back into his work.

Here we meet love interest #3 the landlord’s daughter Wang Jing Wen. We are actually introduced to her earlier where she has a secret Japanese boyfriend that her dad forbids her to see. In this moment of the flick Wang’s father has censored her mail and is not letting any of the boyfriends letters find her. Chow decides to help and offers his address to be used in order for her to actually receive the love letters. Chow also discovers she is an aspiring writer and they begin a friendship of mutual interests. In typical self sabotage manner he realizes he’s in love with her although she doesn’t return mutual feelings. Slap Chow the second, gawd this guy is hopeless.

I am sorry happiness, Mr. Chow will not accept your call.

Now also throughout our flick we are visually introduced to the novel Chow is writing. A sci-fi tale about a mythical place called 2046 where one travels to to find love. An obvious mirror of his own life, the main character loses his one true love and takes a train to this 2046. The sci-fi element here is pretty cool as the train ride is ridiculously long and the passengers are attended to by androids who fill their every need. Actually it gets quite erotic here as when the train moves through a certain section it is recommended to the passengers to share time with one of these robots for warmth and companionship. Mmhmm, read between the lines. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear Chow’s main character ends up falling for one of the androids and begs her to leave with him. And I’m really sure you won’t be surprised that yet again Chow or should I say Chow’s character is shot down.

Sorry Chow, but even in fantasy land the ladies think you're just OK

Sorry Chow-lee, even in made up land ladies think you're just..

The Verdict:

Overall the film is very well made. The characters are interesting, the acting superb, and the story very well thought out. The thing I can’t get past though is our Mr. Chow. Man this guy just made me want to scream! Are we really like this? Having love and happiness in our grasps and then opening up our fingers allowing it to spill to ground like sand. After losing the love of his life early in the flick, we are forced to sit through Chow shitting on all other fleeting glimpses of relationships. It’s hard to say if I will go back and watch the first two films of this trilogy, I mean is Chow at this point just a bitter man incapable of affection or is he like this through the first two too? Truly, I don’t know if I can sit through that. Ok, I will say that if you like heart wrenching love stories that don’t actually deliver, meaning if you enjoy the journey and don’t care all that much about the destination then this flick will work for you. Me on the other hand, I need closure. I need that warm fuzzy feeling and all Chow gives me is a cold sick feeling of hopelessness. Plus dude totally looks like an Asian version of John Waters.