2046... a brilliant film... my full review... @ http://www.cinematica.org/archives/number/2046.htm

Any word on the Korean 20th Cetury Fox NTSC version (english subs, 2.35:1 anamorphic)? There is both a 2 and a 3 disc box.

www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews14/2046.htm

Damn. . .it seems like yesasia.com isn't selling it anymore, I'm assuming it's out of print or something? Is that hong kong version still the best one for someone who doesn't have an all-region player?

The HK version is all there is for region 0, besides the crap mainland China release.

I just caught this brilliant film in Miami Beach. Haunting work that sticks with you well after the film has finished. Profound stuff!

I’m curious, does the Mei Ah DVD out now contain a different cut from the theatrical release in the U.S.? It was released a long time ago, not so long after the first Cannes screening, which was a rough-cut of this final version. So, has anyone seen both the Asian DVD and the U.S. theatrical release and noticed any differences?

Since this thread has been seemingly resurrected, I guess I will comment. I watched 2046 three months ago, and after the film returned to the main menu, I yawned, looked at the clock and went out to diner with my girlfriend and never thought about it again. I’m sorry, kids, but all the raving, lauding and genuflecting is blind devotion. I’ve enjoyed every piece Wai has done but for the bleak and somnolent Happy Together but 2046 is a meandering, ponderous mess. There are beautiful sequences of film, I especially enjoyed the scenes in the diner, the moments on the street, the main character’s yearning for the motel owners daughter, but the film itself left me unfulfilled, it was like the promise of great sex with a beautiful woman, but nothing ever materializes; the clothes stay on. Will I watch it again? Yes. Do I want the film to be resolved by academic scrutiny until its lifeless, no. I don’t need it to make sense. But it was comprised of too many ideas, too many snippets of film and unrealized stories; it needed to be contained, edited. To me it lacked the fluidity of everything else he as done, instead…it was something that could have been great, but instead became Wong Kar Wai outdoing Wong Kar Wai, something like I thought of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. I have no problem with abstraction, symbolism and dead-ends, but seemed like a masturbatory exercise in creating ‘art.’

In another way, it seems as though it was just thrown out there, for the film comment crowd to labor over, something that so frustrated even the director himself, that he simply wanted to get rid of it to move on to something else. Either way, I don't think its a failure, but it could have something so much more.

I love Wong Kar Wai's works, with Fallen Angels as my favorite film. However, I humbly also agree with lostatmidnight's opinion of 2046.

It seems WKW made a collage of all the best scenes fm Chungking Express, Fallen Angels & In the Mood for Love, but the film seemed to be more of an "ego" project. I certainly agree that 2046 is filled with incredible imagery and really shows the filmmaker's (and Chris Doyle's) unmatched talent but at the end, it also seems toprove that the movie is best in parts and not as a whole.

OK, your entitled to your opinions on the film. I still say it's brilliant and needs more than one cursory viewing before passing such final judgements. I left the film feeling similar to how I felt after Eyes Wide Shut and Big Lebowski, two films that grew so much richer with so many more viewings. I definitely plan to buy this title on DVD to watch some more. Hence, my interest in still getting an answer from someone who may have seen the Asian DVD in addition to the U.S theatrical release as to what differences may exist, if any. Thanks! Otherwise, please leave comments on film proper in Movie Talk thread.

You don't need to wait for someone else to resurrect a thread before you can post into it!

I was reading an article with Christopher Doyle in which he stated that during the process of making 2046 both he and director Wong Kar-Wai realized that it was an unncessessary(pardon spelling) film. That the story of Tony Leungs character was already told in ITMFL & didn't need to be expanded upon to the audience.
I personally couldn't agree with this more. To me, the film is a collage of beautiful moments and beautiful acting....but that doesn't mean they coincide to make a great film.

I watched my Asian DVD three times before seeing it in the theatre, and I didn't notice any difference. I've not the greatest memory for small details, mind you, so there might have been some minor tweaks, but overall, it's the same film.

Given the amount of times I've seen it, Slowcloud, I'm obviously on your side here--and my devotion is anything but blind. The amazing thing for me about the film is how all the stories connect, intersect, parallel one another. While it may feel like a collection of moments, they are moments that resonate and build off one another, creating a complete picture. The Mr. Chow character is in a transitional period, working through the hurt he experienced in In The Mood For Love. Ironically, as happens with most of us, he is throwing himself into the same sorts of situations, creating a pattern of chasing after women he can't have while distancing himself from the ones he can. The futuristic story he is writing isn't so much about gaining lost memories of events, but feelings, of trying to recapture the ability to love that he has lost. Little does he know, he is the Faye Wong robot himself, fated to delayed reactions, and certain opportunities will pass him before he has a chance to respond.

Just to show how vastly opinions can differ, Fallen Angels is my least favorite film (excepting As Tears Go By) of Kar-Wai's, for the exact reason you don't like 2046: it feels like a greatest hits more than its own piece, a remix of some of the key elements of the films that preceded it. Whereas for me 2046 felt like a logical continuation of the themes Kar-Wai has been exploring in his last several films, and possibly a perfection of it.

I just saw this one. I've never heard or seen any Wong Kar wai before and absolutely loved this film. It's a beautiful masterpiece.

It was a bit confusing at first but reflecting back on it after I finished the movie allowed me to connect all the dots.

But see I think that is the whole point of the film and why it's so beautiful. Is it not about the restlessness and longing of Chow? How he endlessly searches to replace his lost love- to no avail? The 'promise of great sex with a beautiful woman' is Chow's search for love which fails again and again. he is left "unfulfilled." That is the restlessness of his heart, which is imparted perfectly to the audience. "No one ever returns from 2046." He's stuck in a loop so there can be no resolution

this isn't supposed to be a linear storyline with a conventional ending that brings satisfaction, it's an exercise in mood.