91Èȱ¬

Filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai finds himself In The Mood For Love all over again in this sumptuous semi-sequel to his 2000 passion fest. Tony Leung returns to play Chow, a dissolute writer in 60s Hong Kong who funds his nightly debauchery by writing newspaper articles and bizarre sci-fi stories set in the year 2046. As he beds a string of beautiful women (including Zhang Ziyi and Faye Wong), he begins to realise the terrible truth that "all memories are traces of tears".

Premiering at 2004's Cannes under disastrous circumstances - a print delivered to the auditorium under police escort just minutes before it was scheduled to be shown - 2046 left the Croisette empty handed. Despite its glaring faults (it's overlong and overly-impressed with its own triumph), the Cannes verdict was an undeserved snub: Wong has crafted a gorgeous romance.

"A PANTING, PASSIONATE PICTURE"

Few films are erotic as this. Teaming up again with cinematographer Chris Doyle (Hero), Wong delivers a panting, passionate picture. A little is a lot here: languid shots of twirling cigarette smoke; the sheen of silk stockings clinging to perfectly shaped calf muscles; glittering, sequinned dresses. It's a ravishing of the senses, helped no end by Wong's ear for a soundtrack and the willingness of his actors to invest even the simplest of scenes - a couple holding hands in a taxi cab for example - with the full weight of existential despair.

The title promises a sci-fi tale and the latter half of the movie is dominated by Chow's futuristic stories of love with 'droids in the year of 2046. But 2046 is also the year when the Chinese government's pledge to let Hong Kong remain unchanged after the 1997 handover comes to an end. Weaving a complex tapestry of history, love and desire, this - like all Wong's films - is elusive, mystifying and slips like quicksilver from the memory. It's the journey that counts, though, and this tale of terminal romanticism proves that nothing hurts as much as that crazy little thing called love.

In Cantonese with English subtitles