the blink times

If you’re the kind of man (or woman) who has succumbed to the banality of linear narratives, here’s a piece of advice: Skip this and wait for my next entry. After 2 hours on the couch, I wondered if there was an ending to this, much less a beginning.

According to the narrative of this film, 2046 is the room next to Chow’s (Tony Leung) in a run-down motel. These two rooms, -46 and -47 are so close to each other that every night the occupants can hear and feel the humping and moaning on the other side. Apart from the nightly trysts between the characters, 2046 is the destination of the jaded and heartbroken. It is believed that if you embark on such a journey, nothing ever changes. However, is it really true things can be the same forever, or are the reactions simply delayed by 10 hours, 10,000 hours, or even 10 years?

Wong Kar Wai’s work always has more traces of avant-garde than sci-fi. Even the emotions of ‘androids’ in the film are downplayed to reveal an indifferent side to humanity. Apart from the surreal backdrop, it basically revolves around a down and out writer who makes muses out of desperate, complicated women.

Right, with all the difficult discourse over and done with, this movie stands out for the following reasons.

1) Brilliant cinematography. Lights, shadows and colour all blended to melancholic precision.

2) Chow’s way with women. Tony Leung delivers a riveting performance as a pathological playboy. Be cynical enough to know that being hard up brings heartache. Get that part right, and go for the kill.

3) The moods of love. Bearing in mind Wong’s earlier work ‘in the mood for love’, this takes the viewer on an exploratory trip on the faces of falling in and out of the L-word. Perhaps the most poignant part to note are the experiences Chow recollects about the 3 women. With Su (Gong Li), its about letting go of the past. Between Tak (Takuya Kimura) and Jingwen (Faye Wong) it’s about knowing if love will get back to you. Finally in Bai Ling’s (Zhang Ziyi) case, you will continue loving someone, even though the other might never reciprocate.

4)Zhang Ziyi is damn good at faking orgasms.

And before I go, some delectable quotes for your own musings…

‘If you don’t take ‘No’ for an answer, there is a chance you might just get what you want’.

‘You might not like me, but I like you all the same.’

‘I know not what your answer maybe. I dread to know, but I need to know.’

Au revoir