Film
2046
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Hong Kong 2004, 120 Min., German subtitles
It's hard to imagine anyone not falling for Wong Kar Wai’s sublimely intoxicating love-story. The plot follows the return of Chow (the hero of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) to a 1960's Hong Kong where he writes serials for newspapers - his most popular being a futuristic story called 2046. Having taken up lodgings in a cheap hotel the lovelorn Chow reinvents himself as a Clark Gable-like heartless playboy and acts out a series of torridly desperate affairs.
Essentially this is sumptuous melodrama of the first order where everything is about look and feel. With the touchstone being classic Hollywood, the visual style - courtesy of Chris Doyle - is all cigarettes, red lipstick and silk dresses. With stunning acting from all the leads (Zhang Ziyi proving herself an adeptly sexual Audrey Hepburn-esque screen goddess) and a lushly romantic script and score, this is pure cinema magic.