-2046 The Origins of the Movie
ORIGIN: What does the number “2046” mean? In 1997, when Hong Kong returned to China, Hong Kong was told that everything would remain unchanged for 50 years. 2046 would be the last year of this promise. Director Wong was fascinated by the promise and the number. He wondered what kind of love story it would be if it were mixed with the number. He also asked himself what is this world would remain unchanged. In our daily lives, when we fail in love, we often ask ourselves, “Would he/she remain faithful? Would I remain the same?” The film 2046 begins with this number.
Directed by one of Hong Kong’s most renowned filmmakers, Wong Kar Wai, 2046 is a co-production between the Shanghai Film Studio and Jet Tone Films Ltd. According to director Wong, “The story for 2046 came to me at the same time as we were working on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, but while some of the characters have similarities, 2046 is not a sequel.” Continuing on he said,” In fact, the feelings and issues that the characters in 2046 articulate and contend with are deeper and more sincere requiring a different approach to portraying them. I found that as I looked around and saw people I knew being in and out of love, and others newer being able to capture or recapture love, something spoke to me.”
As I thought about what it meant to love and be loved, 2046 is what came to me. 2046 is about a man who attempts to leave behind his past, to bury that which he cannot forget yet the burden of what he has to carry makes it almost impossible to move beyond what he has done and seen. All of us in a conscious or unconscious way leave behind memories in order to begin new lives. Some maybe do it only once; others do it constantly. My film is about such a man whose love was refused by a woman he loved. Subsequently he turned down the love of another woman and lost a chance to begin again. He began unconsciously and for various reasons to reject every new opportunity to find love. It may sound trite but as we see in 2046, love truly is a matter of timing.”
In the film, director Wong has used his vivid imagination combined with cutting edge CGI shots to break the limitation of time and space and create a dreamy, romantic blend of the past and future worlds. For nearly five years, he shot the film in various locations throughout Thailand, China, Macau, and Hong Kong. The investors in the film came from Japan, Hong Kong, China, France, and Italy. The CGI shots utilized in the film were crafted and created by the French company BUF working closely with director Wong. BUF produced works for the CGI in MATRIX 2 and 3, Alexander the Great and The Fight Club, but this is the first time that they worked on a film from Asia. Hundreds of specialized technicians and artists from BUF were involved in creating the final renderings utilized in 2046.
