SCREEN

2046

Matthew Scott Hunter

2046 is a confusing film. The confusion begins with the title and grows from there. We're immediately shown a gaudy future, with impossibly fast trains surrounded by flashy lights. This must be the year 2046. Well, no. It's a place called 2046, "where people go to recapture old memories," the narrator tells us. So that's what the title means. Well, no. The title refers to a room number in a hotel that existed back in the '60s, where the narrator, Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) once romanced several women. So what does this have to do with the future? Nothing. That's the problem.


2046 uses its flirtations with science fiction as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of memory. The visually stunning film is an odd sequel of sorts to Wong's In the Mood For Love, which also was about missed opportunities and regret. But where that film stuck to the hotel rooms of the would-never-be lovers and focused on their understated performances, 2046 tries to be too fancy for its own good. Ultimately, the non-linear narrative and sci-fi aspects only manage to confound viewers, when a less outlandish version of the same story would have made its point just fine. And then no one would have had to waste time pondering what even the title means.

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