ORIGINAL TITLE2046
GENRERomantic drama · Science fiction · Art film
ABOUT THIS FILM
RUNTIME
128 min
FAMOUS QUOTE
“In love you can't bring on a substitute.”
Vibe
Wong-Kar-WaimelancholylushHong-KongromanticfragmentedfuturisticnocturnalChristmas-Eveyearning
Writer Chow Mo-wan moves through several relationships while turning memory and disappointment into a futuristic story about a place called 2046; multiple romantic episodes orbit Christmas Eve. Secular hong kong christmas rendered as tinsel, music, hotels and missed timing; longing is seasonal atmosphere rather than conventional holiday plot.
MOVIE NIGHT RANK
#62 of 100
Watch for
- recurring Christmas Eve dates
- William Chang's design
- period romance versus futuristic fiction
- music as emotional architecture
Production notes
Criterion lists Wong as writer/director, 128 minutes, Cantonese/Japanese/Mandarin, Tony Leung with Gong Li/Faye Wong/Zhang Ziyi and major collaborators Christopher Doyle/William Chang.
Trivia
- Wong wrote/directed
- Criterion lists 128 minutes
- Tony Leung reprises Chow
- three principal languages
- BFI includes it in 21st-century Christmas canon
Legacy
canonical late Wong Kar Wai; Criterion restoration and BFI Christmas inclusion strengthened its afterlife as luxurious, melancholy holiday-adjacent cinema.