I am writing this under a state of considerable distress.
Apart from martial arts films (wuxia) Chinese films often don't grab me because of their lack of emotional involvement. This one doesn't lack style that other modern Chinese films lack. They tend to avoid using music which stops me from getting wrapped up in them but this one has a whole score including a great piece of Latino music which is very lilting and they use several times. I feel a bit like Mr. Chow writing this. He spends a lot of his time writing or talking about his writing. The most lengthy part of the plot is his romantic involvement with characters including one played by Zhang Ziyi who as always plays a handful. I didn't recognise her at first, he looks very different with her hair not tied back.
The story takes place largely during a series of Christmas eves during the sixties in Hong Kong. Li Gong (from Hero) works as a journalist and writer (which gives me a kick writing this review because it's like being a hack journalist with a typewriter.) The rest of the story is about his foreign escapades and time on a futuristic android inhabited train taking him from 2046 which no one has ever left. It's not truly surreal or bizzare but is surrealistic, it's different but not disturbingly abberant.
It doesn't try to grab me too much but if you like films that give you a lot to think about in terms of characters' motives and a plot with a lot of mystery you'll probably like this. The feel of the film gets to me more than an emotion it inspires but it's no less interesting because of it. This is kind of a sci fi mixed with history. Being set in east Asia it's more like a film about the 1930's than the sixties but I love that kind of posh glamour combined with a writer living in a tiny room with noisy neighbours. Added to the colourful scenes of he train leading away from 2046 it's got style and glamour that other Chinese directors should be paying attention to. It isn't just wuxia that has exaggerated style but it isn't done in an overpowering way. He uses colour and effects very gracefully, combined with the wonderful soundtrack it's a film you can enjoy even if all the intellectual stuff goes over your head so much you feel like you're autistic not to be able to understand why the characters are feeling the emotions they are.
This is a great example of the style and depth Asian cinema can have and I only wish I was properly taught how to understand and write about it as well as the director Wong Kar-wai wrote and made it. If you're interested in more of his work and want to know more about the film's storyline watch Days of Being Wild and In The Mood For Love. I haven't seen those yet so can't say how good they are.
