2046 (2004)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

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:

Train | Writer | Playing Cards | Old Friend | Unrequited Love

Awards:

22 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)

Directed by
Kar Wai Wong

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kar Wai Wong		screenplay

Produced by
Wai-Chung Chan	....	line producer
Ye-cheng Chan	....	executive producer
Gilles Ciment	....	co-executive producer
Eric Heumann	....	co-producer
Stéphane Kooshmanian	....	associate producer
Amedeo Pagani	....	co-producer
Zhong-lun Ren	....	executive producer
Marc Sillam	....	co-producer
Kar Wai Wong	....	producer

Original Music by
Shigeru Umebayashi

Cinematography by
Christopher Doyle

Film Editing by
William Chang		(as William Chang Suk Ping)

Production Design by
William Chang		(as William Chang Suk Ping)

Art Direction by
Alfred Yau

Costume Design by
William Chang

Production Management
Olivier Chiavassa	....	production manager
Chiu Wah Lee	....	production manager
Helen Li	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shin-shi Hui	....	second second assistant director
Ji-wei Kuan	....	first assistant director
Shao-hua Li	....	assistant director
Rosanna Ng	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Ping Lam Siu	....	property master

Sound Department
Michael Baird	....	sound designer
Yu Teng Hsu	....	boom operator
Claude Letessier	....	supervising sound designer
Du-Che Tu	....	sound designer (as Tu Duu Chih)

Visual Effects by
Johnny Alves	....	digital effects artist
Florent Andorra	....	digital artist
Jérôme Arthuis	....	processing: DuboiColor
François-Xavier Aubague	....	visual effects supervisor
Christophe Belena	....	coordinator scans/recording/color grading: Duboicolor
Nadir Benhassaine	....	visual effects coordinator: BUF Compagnie
Mélodie Boileau	....	visual effects coordinator
Nicolas Bonnell	....	visual effects producer: BUF
Coralie Boulay	....	visual effects editor
Florent Cadel	....	digital artist
Nicolas Daniel	....	video operator: Duboicolor
Sébastien Drouin	....	visual effects supervisor
Laurent Gillet	....	visual effects: Buf Compagnie
Rip Hampton O'Neil	....	technical director: Duboicolor (as Rip O'Neil)
Sonia Holst	....	visual effects coordinator: Buf Compagnie
Abdel Ali Kassou	....	processing: DuboiColor
Didier le Fouest	....	digital colorist (as Didier Le Fouest)
Damien Macé	....	compositor
Karine Marchandou	....	digital grading manager
Philippe Palmieri	....	digital artist
Xavier Perol	....	digital artist
Boris Plateau	....	digital compositor
Olivier Pron	....	concept artist
Olivier Pron	....	digital artist
Guillaume Raffi	....	visual effects coordinator: Buf Compagnie
Sebastien Rame	....	digital compositor
Eddy Richard	....	digital artist: BUF
Mathilde Tollec	....	digital artist
Daniel Trujillo	....	digital artist
Jean-Marc van Rijswick	....	digital artist: BUF
David Verbeke	....	visual effects supervisor
Dominique Vidal	....	visual effects: BUF
Sophie Gateau	....	digital artist (uncredited)

Stunts
Wei Tung	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Ian Freeman	....	grip
Pung-Leung Kwan	....	director of photography: second unit
Yiu-Fai Lai	....	director of photography: second unit
Chi Ming Wong	....	gaffer (as Wong Chi Ming)

Editorial Department
Serge Anthony	....	color timer (as Serge Antony)
Fabien Pascal	....	color timer
Laurent Pelé	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Stephanie Cheung	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Arte
• Block 2 Pictures
• China Film Co-Production Corporation
• Classic
• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Fortissimo Films
• France 3 Cinéma
• Jet Tone Films
• Jet Tone Production
• Orly Films
• Paradis Films
• Shanghai Film Studios
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
• arte France Cinéma

Distributors

• 1More Film (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2004) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• ArtCam (2005) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Cinema Mondo (2004) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (2004-2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Fox Korea (2004) (Korea) (theatrical)
• Istituto Luce (2004) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2005) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Océan Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Tartan Films (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2004) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Block 2 Pictures (2004) (non-USA)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Palisades-Tartan Acquisitions (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)

Special Effects

• BUF (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Duboi  digital film scanning
• Duran Duboi  digital intermediate
• Kantana Animation Co. Ltd.  film processing
• Laboratoires Éclair  color timing
• Les Auditoriums de Joinville  sound re-recording
• London Symphony Orchestra, The (LSO)  orchestra: "Casta Diva"
• Ramindra Sound Recording Studios  sound recording studio
• Salon Films  camera and lighting equipment provided by
• Shanghai Film Technology Plant  film processing
• Shaw Brothers  prints: Hong Kong
• Tai Fung (Tsu's) Co. Ltd.  film supplied by (as FUJIFILM)

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

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Malaysia:18SX (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Hungary:16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Hong Kong:IIB | Brazil:16 | Portugal:M/12 | 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:

The camera points to the left side of Faye Wong's face when she cries. She has problems crying with her right eye, so Wong Kar-Wai shot her crying scenes on the left side of her face. However, there is one scene where the camera films the right side of her face purposely.

Quotes:

Chow Mo Wan: Take care. Maybe one day you'll escape your past. If you do, look for me.

Movie Connections:

References Tian xia wu shuang (2002)

Soundtrack:

Oh! s'io potessi dissipar le nubi... Col sorriso l'innocenza

In the mood for love

Kar Wai Wong is without a doubt, one of the best directors today. That said, with "2046" he achieves something of an impressive feat with this film that keeps reminding us of his previous "In the Mood for Love", which in comparison, pales next to this new installment of Mr. Wong's take about the life of the character of the previous film. The gorgeous cinematography of Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun Leung and Yiu-Fai-Lai has a rich texture throughout the film and the haunting musical score by Peer Raben and Shiguru Umebayashi fits the movie like a glove.

Some people commenting in this forum have expressed the view of Mr. Wong's film being futuristic because the way the film starts. But basically, those futuristic sequences last so little on the screen that it might be a misnomer for "2046" to be deemed about the future, when in reality we are taken back to the sixties when Mr. Chow is seen so much in love with Bai Ling.

Mr. Wong gives us a vivid account of what the two lovers had together, but he also takes us back when something is revealed about Mr. Chow we never knew about his involvement with SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman who is lucky in winning for him an enormous amount, but while he falls in love with her, she coolly lets him go.

We are also shown Wong Jing Wen, who Mr. Chow had a passionate love affair with, in the previous film. It appears the involvement they both had is now clearly forgotten, or maybe it wasn't as important as it once appeared to be.

The director's technique calls for an infinite amount of medium shots, usually over the shoulder of the person that listens. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any scenery in the film since most of the action either takes place while the characters are seen in conversation, or in bed where some of the torrid encounters take place. The futuristic scenes seem to be a sort of limbo where the characters, like the beautiful Android, seems to in in a world of her own.

The best asset in the film is the music the director adds to the different scenes. Some of the music is nostalgic, some operatic, or depending on whatever is being emphasized at the moment. The music enhances the action in ways that make the film hard to forget.

The best thing the director has in the film is the enormously talented Tony Leung. Mr. Leung is an actor that is always interesting to see in anything. In this film, Mr. Wong and his main actor show how attuned they both are to their collaboration. Ziyi Zhang is tremendously appealing as Bai Ling, the woman that loved intensely and suddenly finds herself on her own after the affair ended. Gong Li is seen briefly as SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman with the one black globe he meets in Singapore. Also Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau contributed to the film as the women in Mr. Chow's life.

"2046" is a hypnotic piece of film making because the magnificent style which Kar Wai Wong gives to everything in the film to achieve this moody piece that examines love relationships in ways that are seldom seen in the movies.