2046 (2004)

Director:

Kar Wai Wong

Writer:

Kar Wai Wong (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 September 2004 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Where everything ends... and begins (Spanish translation)

Plot:

He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while...

Plot Keywords:

Journalist | Unrequited Love | Cross Cultural Relationship | Sex | Gambling

Awards:

21 wins & 30 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Chow Mo-wan (as Tony Leung)
Li Gong	...	Su Li-zhen
Faye Wong	...	Wang Jing-wen / Android
Takuya Kimura	...	Tak / Wang Jing-wen's Boyfriend
Ziyi Zhang	...	Bai Ling
Carina Lau	...	Lulu / Mimi / Android
Chen Chang	...	Mimi's Boyfriend
Jie Dong	...	Wang Jie-wen
Maggie Cheung	...	Su Li-zhen
Thongchai McIntyre	...	Bird (as Bird Thongchai McIntyre)
Wang Sum	...	Mr. Wang / Train Captain
Ping Lam Siu	...	Ah Ping
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ting Yip Ng	...	(unconfirmed)

Also Known As:

2046 - Der ultimative Liebesfilm (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content.

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

China | France | Germany | Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Japanese | Mandarin

Colour:

Black and White | Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Malaysia:18SX (uncut version) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Hungary:16 | Argentina:13 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:M | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Ireland:12 (video rating) | Ireland:15A (original rating) | Italy:T | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:R | China:17

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Arte

Trivia:

In one of the original versions, Tony Leung was to play a futuristic postman.

Quotes:

Bai Ling: I don't get it. Were does all that fun get you? If you find the right person, why waste time on the others?
Chow Mo Wan: If I find the right person? A man like me has nothing much except free time. Thats why I need company.
Bai Ling: So people are just time fillers to you?
Chow Mo Wan: I wouldn't say that. Other people can borow my time to.
Bai Ling: And tonight? Are you borrowing me, or am I borrowing you?
Chow Mo Wan: No difference. Maybe I borrowed you earlier,now your borrowing me.
Bai Ling: Ridicoulous.

Movie Connections:

Follows A Fei zheng chuan (1991)

Soundtrack:

2046 Main Theme

A tragedy - in many ways

Why do I have my problems with the movies of Wong-Kar-Wai? As always: the pictures he shows are outstanding, the music is hypnotizing, the actors are the who-is-who of contemporary Chinese cinema. But the overall impression is that of a creamy bitter-sweet chocolate-cake. Since "In the mood for love" (for which is "2046" a definitive sequel) Kar-Wai has made only one development: his erotic is sharper, more powerful, but like in the prequel: his male protagonist shows no evolution. He is as passive and dumb as a chestnut on Xmas eve. I'm beginning to fear that Kar-Wai ends up like Soderbergh: every movie is nearly a masterpiece. And i mean really "nearly", but his art-house-aestheticism is way over the top, the story wants to be multi-level and is in fact only confusing. The dialog is as poetical as boring. Leung is (as in "mood") no match for his female partners. This movie is only saved by the beautiful music and the gorgeous female characters. I'm certainly begging that Kar-Wai turns on another genre and let that existentialism of his be, then he could do something "real" outstanding (like Park did with his "oldboy").