2046 (2004)

“Do you know what people did in the old days when they had secrets they didn’t want to share? They’d climb a mountain, find a tree, carve a hole in it, whisper the secret into the hole and cover it up with mud. That way, nobody else would ever learn the secret…” – Tak

Number of Times Seen – 1 (6 Nov 2019)

Brief Synopsis – While trying to replace hos long lost love with a substitute a science fiction writer chronicles his encounters with various women who inhabit the room next to his.

My Take on it – This is a film that I heard about a few years back but due to my usual disdain for foreign language movies, I stayed very far away from this one.

Since I’ve been trying lately to expand my film watching horizons, I decided to see what it was all about.

The story is quite convoluted and makes very little sense because the narrative is very difficult to completely comprehend.

The added fact that parts of this film are presented in a non-linear way adds even more to the confusion of things and doesn’t help at all.

This film seems more like a collection of a bunch of small vignettes in the life of the main character.

Unfortunately, they fail to give us a free flowing story which might have been much more intriguing to watch unfold.

The only thing that I really found enjoyable about this film is the cinematography which is at certain points breathtaking.

Unfortunately tho, without a narrative that is understandable, a film can look nice, but if it lacks a clear and enjoyable story, looking nice doesn’t help very much.

Bottom Line – Extremely convoluted film that fails to have a comprehendable narrative. The fact that parts of this story are shown in a non-linear manner also helps add to the confusion. The film feels more than a collection of vignettes in the life a character instead of a free flowing story which could be interesting to watch unfold. The one enjoyable thing here is the cinematography, but without an understandable narrative, cinematography means nothing.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The print for Cannes arrived three hours before the delayed premier, escorted by police. It is the first film in Cannes’ history to arrive so late that re-schedulings were necessary. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)