Not his best work: how Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 and My Blueberry Nights left their marks, despite being considered two of the Hong Kong director’s lesser films

2046, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, was called ‘rambling’, and My Blueberry Nights, with Norah Jones and Natalie Portman, ranks low among the director’s work

Still, both added to his oeuvre. We explain why 2046 isn’t a sequel to In The Mood for Love, and why Wong considered My Blueberry Nights a ‘vacation film’

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Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a still from “2046” (2004). This film, along with “My Blueberry Nights” (2007) contributed to Wong Kar-wai’s impressive oeuvre despite not being considered his best work.

Published: 4:15am, 16 Jul 2023

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 and My Blueberry Nights aren’t his best films, but they do add something to his oeuvre. We consider two of the director’s less favoured movies.

2046

It’s sometimes said that Wong has spent his whole career making the same film from different perspectives. That’s unfair, but there are intentional connections between the director’s In the Mood for Love and 2046.

Released in 2000, In the Mood for Love focuses on a love affair between Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) that was never consummated; 2046 shows how that doomed affair affected Chow’s personality and changed him from a thoughtful and caring lover to a callous playboy.

For Wong, 2046 isn’t a sequel; the filmmaker notes that the narrative and style of the two films – the later one has science-fiction elements – are significantly different.

“I don’t think of it as a sequel, as sequels tell of ongoing events – they continue the story,” Wong said in a documentary on the making of the film. “To me, 2046 is an echo of In the Mood for Love – it’s a different story.

“It’s about how a person faces his future given all the things that have happened to him in the past.