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'2046' opens in China amid global hype
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-28 15:00
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai
at the preview of his latest movie "2046" in Beijing. The
hotly-anticipated film finally goes on general release in China Tuesday
before rolling out across the globe.
[AFP] |
It was a film some cynics suggested would never be finished. But after four
years in the making the hotly-anticipated '2046' by acclaimed Hong Kong director
Wong Kar-wai finally goes on general release in China Tuesday before rolling out
across the globe.
The stylised sci-fi flick, which Wong has spent months re-editing since it
surprisingly failed to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival in May, is
tipped to cement the director's international cult status while making him a box
office success overseas.
A copy of poster
for the film '2046' [baidu] | During a series of
publicity events for '2046' across China last week, Wong admitted the tortuous
film-making process was "like being in jail" for his star-studded cast -- which
included Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Faye Wong and Maggie Cheung
-- but insisted it had been unavoidable.
Now audiences will get a chance to judge if it was worth the wait.
"I think the fuss about all the delays will help the film," says Liz
Shackleton, Hong Kong correspondent of Hollywood bible 'Screen Daily'. "The hype
will have whetted people's appetites even more.
"It left Cannes empty-handed but it was a weird decision. Those who liked
Wong's previous films won't be disappointed. It's really a continuation of 'In
The Mood For Love'," Shackleton says.
'In The Mood For Love' -- a doomed love story set sumptuously in 1960s Hong
Kong -- was Wong's true breakthrough movie when it was released in 2000.
He had already established himself in 1997 by being named best director at
Cannes for 'Happy Together', his tale of a strained relationship between two
Chinese gay lovers living in Buenos Aires.
But 'In The Mood For Love' took 2.7 million dollars at the US box office and
scooped awards worldwide. It was nominated for a Golden Palm at Cannes, where it
earned Leung a best actor award.
The new movie is a loose follow-on from 'In The Mood For Love', with Leung's
reprised character becoming a Bukowski-esque womaniser, still living in the
1960s. He is writing a sci-fi script about a train which leaves for 2046 where
people could recapture their lost memories and the film flits between the past
and the future.
Explaining the title of the film, the director said Saturday it was based on
the promise by China not to make any changes to Hong Kong for 50 years after it
was handed over to the mainland from Britain in 1997.
"I asked myself what, in the world, does not change in 50 years?" he said.
"When we are in love, we care the most about our mutual promises, if we do
change, if something eternal exists. It's because of that I have selected this
number to tell a story about love," Wong said.
The film has its Hong Kong premiere Tuesday, coinciding with its general
release at cinemas throughout China.
It is only Wong's third movie to be granted a mainland release and the
director says it would have been released sooner except for the outbreak of
SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in China last year.
Already renowned for his quixotic approach to film-making -- constantly
improvising, writing scripts on the hoof and giving actors little direction --
Wong's stalled production left even veteran actors of his movies exasperated.
"I heard Wong was going to shoot more scenes with Gong Li and Faye Wong, so I
shaved my moustache immediately," Leung, who starred in 'In the Mood For Love'
and 'Happy Together', told Britain's Guardian newspaper. "You just can't go on
shooting like that; you have to stop."
Leung told reporters in Beijing that Wong "suffered during production,
because he did not have a complete scenario and no specific orientation". But he
added: "I, however, find his way to create exciting and very original."
Wong, whose other hits include 'Chungking Express' and 'Days of Being Wild',
insisted hat he could "produce very quickly" if necessary.
"Each film has its rate or rhythm," he said. "For 'Chungking Express', I was
able to go very quickly but '2046' is complex."
The delays meant he lost Maggie Cheung for most of the movie -- she was
replaced by Faye Wong. Highly-acclaimed cinematographer Christopher Doyle -- a
regular member of his creative crew who is credited with giving Wong's films
their distinct atmospheric quality -- also moved on.
Earlier this year Wong signed a three film deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures
to develop a minimum of three English-language movies, although not necessarily
as writer or director.
Other upcoming plans include a film about Bruce Lee's Kung Fu master, again
starring Leung. But his next scheduled project sees him teaming up with a
leading Hollywood star for the first time. Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman
will play a role in 'The Lady From Shanghai', which will start filming in
February. Or maybe later.
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