The most anticipated Chinese film of the year, 2046, isn’t to me, as nice as its prequel, but it was enjoyable enough.
In 2046 Tony Leung reprises the role of Chow Mo Wan in In the Mood For Love. However, instead of the brooding and stoically silent man he was in the prequel, he now plays a roguish cad who writes erotic novels for a living and becomes a Casanova.
The year is 1966, and upon his return to Hong Kong after spending a few years in Singapore, Chow takes residence in a rented room in a seedy hotel. He is intrigued by the hotel owner’s elder daughter, Jingwen, played by Faye Wong.
Jingwen is a lovelorn woman torn between her father and her Japanese lover played by Japanese heartthrob Takuya Kimura. Her father objects to their relationship and she is unable to bring herself to desert her father when her lover asks her to leave with him.
Faye Wong puts in an acceptable performance but really, she seems to be playing the same role as she did in Chungking Express, one of director Wong Kar Wai’s earlier films. She twirls around like a sparrow (she certainly looks like eats like one judging by her waif-like body and jutting collarbones), looks forlorn with those doeful eyes, and utters a couple of lines. Nothing groundbreaking if you ask me. Takuya Kimura is also somewhat bland and is
forgettable.
When Jingwen’s lover leaves, she strikes up a friendship with Chow who finds himself falling for her as the days go by. This time however, he finds that there is a woman immune to his charms.
Zhang Ziyi plays Bai Ling, a prostitue who stays in 2046, who finds herself susceptible to the charms of the Chow, the ultimate woman’s man. Zhang Ziyi carries off her role with enough coquetry and one is able to feel sorry for her when Chow rejects her love. Zhang Ziyi looks good in her cheongsams, but not nearly as good as Maggie Cheung did in the prequel. The latter’s wardrobe of cheongsams is to-die-for, and that body of hers more so!
Gong Li plays Su Lizhen, the other woman in Chow’s life. Her character is the namesake of Chow’s lover in In the Mood for Love played by beautiful Maggie Cheung. We also feel for her character when we learn that he doesn’t really love her, but is only trying to find his former love in her.
Though these two Chinese actresses are good thespians in their own right, they don’t sizzle as much on screen with Tony Leung as Maggie Cheung does. The chemistry between the leads which was so evident in In the Mood for Love seems to be somewhat lacking in 2046.
I was looking forward to Chang Chen’s appearance but it was all too fleeting. He was the drummer boyfriend of Carina Lau’s rather forgettable cabaret girl character, but he came and gone in a flash!
I thoroughly enjoyed the soundtrack though. Comprised mostly of instrumental tracks, it went from the classical melancholic strains of the violin, to Nat King Cole’s warm rendition of Chestnuts Roasting, to the female soprano’s soaring voice in an opera, and to the carabet sounds of Hong Kong in the 1960s. The music complemented the visuals brilliantly.
Chow Mo Wan’s musings on love stirs gently, but it doesn’t shake. The film’s theme of lost love and missed opportunities is played out subtly, interspersed with comic one-liners uttered by Chow, which serves to save the film from tedium. Overall, I still prefer In the Mood for Love, but this movie is still a worth a watch nonetheless.