2046 (2004 - Hong Kong)

The blur that is 2046.

The ending is finite, but still open for interpretation.

“Everyone who goes to 2046 wants to recapture lost memories, Because in 2046 nothing ever changes. But no one knows if that’s true because no one ever comes back.”

One could either come back because they've captured lost memories  or simply didn't want to capture lost memories anymore. It could be that no one ever recaptures lost memories.

The last scenes goes. Remnants from the previous two films. He admits to Bai Ling he’ll never land, like the legless bird on Days of Being Wild. He takes a cab leaning alone, contrasting to In the Mood for Love, when he was with Su Li Zhen, and they share the cab together. That was the memory. That was his one true love and now he’s a legless bird. Will you always become legless bird when you've lost your one true love?

Charting the stories in 2046. There’s the science fiction arc with the narrator and how he falls in love with an android; Chow and Su Li Zhen “Black Spider”; Chow and Bai Ling. Chow and landlord’s daughter; the Landlord’s daughter and her Japanese boyfriend; Chow and Lulu.

It’s hard to even break down the interweave of stories within each stories.

Chow and Lulu; links to Days of Being Wild.

In a way, Chow and the Landlord’s daughter, the landlord’s daughter and her Japanese boyfriend; and the science fiction arc, is one whole block. This probably has the most uplifting resolution.

Chow and Black Spider; hits the most on In the mood for love. He realizes “You can’t have a substitute for love.” This one is not a missed connection. But verges more on indirect rejection, another at unrequited love.

Chow and Bai Ling; this is a major chunk in the story. A similar resolution to Days of Being Wild. Why doesn't he settle? He gets another chance with Bai Ling. Sure, Chow may have lost his chance with Su Li Zhen. But he doesn't have to be so hard on his self.

Until he decides to stop wanting to recapture that old memory, he’ll always be stuck. He doesn’t have to recapture it anyway. He just have to acknowledge that it’s history. And let it stay that way.

I guess, the ending wouldn't work out stronger that way.

The story as a whole, it's the perfect ending. It's sad, but that's how it is.


The universe that is Wong Kar Wai’s love trilogy is incredibly sad; but still an inventive take in capturing the wells and swells of an emotion.

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