Movies, due to dubbing, are usually late in Germany. While the rest of the world is enjoying, or has finished enjoying their movies, we are still waiting here. Except when it comes to many of the new Asian movies.
2046 was the same. Already released on DVD me and my girlfriend were quite interested in seeing it. Having already seen "In the Mood for Love" we were looking forward to something much the same, except hopefully a little faster in pace and emotionally-heated. I thought I was going to be the Hero renting a romance (which I don't normally go for) but it turned out to be a disappointment.
Perhaps it is not so much the fault of the movie, but of the trailers that lead you to believe that the movie is something that it isn't.
The movie is, like many other films from Kar Wai Wong, a visual masterpiece in my opinion. I was riveted to the images he is truly a modern painter. This is not to be underestimated. This is enough to get you through the whole movie, despite its crawling pace. Simply for the images I can understand that many viewers would love this movie.
But it takes more then that to make the "ultimate love movie" (as it was advertised here in Germany). I found many parts in the movie confusing and mixed up, I got the impression towards the end that the movie might not be in chronological order. If it isn't, then there is much more to investigate for me, if it is, then I have to say that the movie isn't that clear, and that the characters motives and feelings are not always properly portrayed.
If this was a book, I would love to read it. Simply to get into the heads of the characters and find out what they were thinking, what was driving them, and how they were feeling. Perhaps that is what is left out, perhaps that is why we find it so odd here in the West. We are used to romances being opened and voiced, and usually simple. We are not used to people feeling emotions but hiding their motives behind those emotions, which might be more understood in a conservative society such as China.
This is a movie I would love to own, and watch over and over again, just to try to understand if there is any magic hidden that cannot be seen at the first watching. I would not be surprised if that is how it is, but the long dragging scenes might hinder me from sitting though it more then 2 more times, because it drags. Perhaps next time Kar Wai Wong should hire a brutal editor and good writer to get his ideas out, because this movie had greater potential then what it became. Still, for me it gets 7/10 : its far from BAD.
