and
2046
***1/2 (out of ****)
Starring Tony Leung, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Faye Wong, and Chiu Wai
Directed & written by Wong Kar-Wai
124 min
2004 (2005 US release) R
*** (out of ****)
Starring Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, and Chiu Wai
Directed & written by Wong Kar-Wai
98 min
2000 NR
The filmmaker is Wong Kar-Wai (or is it Kar-Wai Wong?) and his style can best be described as architectural. So many scenes feature characters who, although they may be reclining, appear to be pinned between walls and corridors. We travel in and out of the same small rooms again and again but there are no master shots. We are given no clear idea of the size, shape, and topography of these spaces. We see streets but only the tiniest sidewalks of them. The feeling is like memory, yet it is so much more distinct and floatingly objective than any real memory. Perhaps what we are seeing is the memory of an eavesdropper who doesn’t get to see all the connecting bits. The effect is unearthly. WKW’s movies feel like no other. The photography is by Christopher Doyle and the music ranges from Nat King Cole to big band tunes in Spanish to Italian opera.
“In the Mood” follows two married people (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, both of “Hero”) who fall in love with each other but never consummate or acknowledge their love. They smoke, share meals, walk together and talk of nothing, and avert their eyes a lot. At most they act out how their own cheating spouses might be behaving, or play little games as if they were lovers, or otherwise sublimate what they’re feeling. Or maybe they do consummate their relationship; the movie is awfully vague and some of the deleted scenes and comments in “2046” imply otherwise. What actually happens is beside the point: these are both mood pieces, haunting, and you can’t clearly remember what happened or understand what’s going on while you’re watching them. The backdrop for “In the Mood” is Hong Kong in the years before the Cultural Revolution.
In “2046” the man is alone, after he and the woman have gone their separate ways, while China turns Culturally Revolting and Hong Kong riots. The entirety of “2046” may take place between scenes set in the third act of “In the Mood.” I really can’t remember what was canonical (theatrical) and what were just deleted scenes. Anyway, he at least appears to be the same man; he’s played by the same actor with the same name and the same sidekick (Chiu Wai) and the same haunted past, and he’s still a writer. But was he such a dapper smooth smoothie with oiled hair, and a sharp suit? I didn’t remember him being such a player, so endlessly capable of saying the right thing at the right time, looking women up and down in a way that is as objectifying as it is flattering, and then asking, “are you looking for me?” As he waxes about “another time and another place” and as he weaves pulpy sci-fi stories, we start to wonder if he is the same man, or if this is a parallel dimension. “2046” certainly avoids the sequel consistency of “Harry Potter.”
It’s a little unfair that I enjoyed “2046” more than “In the Mood.” Perhaps I only liked “2046” so much because I had lived with “In the Mood” for several months and it was like returning to an old friend in a place I hadn’t been for a long time. It’s a tighter film, focusing on a man savoring that most male of emotions: he’s enjoying feeling sorry for himself and missing one of the most attractive woman in Asian cinema. It’s seldom better to be alone than with someone, but more powerful than being in the cab with the woman is being alone in the cab and wishing the woman were there. Luckily he has some of the most attractive women in China to ease his mind: Gong Li of “Raise the Red Lantern,” Zhang Ziyi of “Hero,” and Faye Wong of “Chungking Express.” Really all he needs is the lovely middle-aged Michelle Yeoh to have a royal flush of Chinese hotness. But even with them he seems to want to miss them and ponder over them more than be with them. Resignation is more attractive than action.
Along the way we see the story he is writing, a punky sci-fi yarn called “2046,” in which a dashing young Japanese is apparently trapped on a bullet train with several beautiful android temptresses. These sections of the film are all neon flash, and also reassuring that the problems of the human heart will still follow us into the future. The FX used to render this world are not convincing, but are unconvincing in a fascinating way, somewhere between a dream, or the rough draft or computer sketches of a more traditional, mainstream sci-fi that won’t linger nearly as long in our minds.
And of course both movies are slower than all get out. The first half of “2046” is the most energetic, and almost jokey, before returning to the somber wistfulness of its predecessor. It also has more colors and settings, with its future stuff. So many movies are about answering questions, about resolving things, about getting things done. In these two films, WKW focuses on the wonder of “I was in love with her, but I never knew if she was in love with me.” He lingers on the lonely nights of desperation in which we want that question answered, and concludes that that is the mood of love. And he also concludes that Chinese look cool smoking in slow-motion.
Finished Friday, March 10th, 2006
Copyright © 2006 Friday & Saturday Night
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