I write about movies here and maybe sometimes some other stuff but mostly just movies. If you are looking for the old Cineblog postings because you are compiling a book or whatever, you can find them here.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

2046 (2004, Wong Kar-Wai)

I am actually sitting in a movie theatre as I write this, waiting for the Iranian film The Lizard to start. Sweet ubiquitous wifi, thank you Seattle.

In this very theatre, three days ago, I saw my most anticipated film of the fest, Wong Kar-Wai's 2046. It was, as Melissa Schwartz so aptly put it, "a big sprawling mess. And I don't mean that in a kind Paul Thomas Anderson sort of way." At one point two of the characters have a discussion about escaping their past, and one wonders if Wong couldn't have taken this advice himself. He seems to be attempting to followup every one of his prior films all at once. Most explicitly a semi-sequel to In The Mood For Love, this also contains implicit references back to at least three of his other films without tying any of them together at all. Around the one hour point, the plot had gone so many places I began wondering how in the hell he was going to land the thing, then at around 90 minutes I actually thought he was going to pull it off. Then the movie went on for another half an hour. Still, like all Wong's films, 2046 is well worth seeing if for no other reason than the dreamy atmosphere and always-breathtaking cinematography from Christopher Doyle. Also Zhang Ziyi gives the best performance I've seen out of her so far. Mmmmm, tasty. Is Wong ever going to make another kinetic film filled with life and joy like Chungking Express again? Please say yes.

Rumors abound that this version which is being distributed is vastly different than the one shown at Cannes last year, although the only detail I know of for sure is that Maggie Cheung's role was pretty much non-existent in the Cannes version. If anyone has more details on this I would be interested. It is fascinating to me how much of Wong's films seem to come together in the editing room, see also all the deleted scenes from In The Mood For Love on the Criterion DVD, which are lovely but seem to come from another movie altogether. I'm sure its a personal thing but I can't imagine working that way, it totally makes my head hurt thinking about it.

3 Comments:

Blogger Greg Dunlap said...

The movie has been on Regionx DVD for some time, Scarecrow video here has had it for like six months, and to the best of my knowledge it is the version that is getting distributed.

12:03 PM

 
Blogger A-Lyric said...

I didn't see the Cannes version, but remember that it was rushed through to be on time (they even had to cancel showings as the film simply hadn't arrived). So it's not really surprising that there are differences - could be the shorter version is better (hopefully so). The same thing happened to "Brown Bunny" that was rushed through editing to be shown at Cannes and then took a pounding. I have heard the final version is far better than the first cut.

3:21 AM

 
Blogger Greg Dunlap said...

Everyone I have read who has seen both versions (this is all of maybe two people) said the new one is better, so that seems all good.

8:47 AM

 

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