I am a great fan of not only Hong Kong cinema, but Wong Kar-wai in particular. And since this was a follow-up to his marvellous film "In the Mood for Love", which ties into the world founded in his elliptical, perplexing 1990 masterpiece "Days of Being Wild", the anticipation was high...

Unfortunately, "2046" represents a kind of self-implosion for Wong, whose films have always been stubborn in cutting their own path in the face of audience needs and expectations. Now, when he was making films like "Chungking Express", which is a film purely for film lovers, he alienated the mainstream while hitting chords with the cine-literate folk who had not had their pretentiousness fed in such ways since the heights of Godard. But "2046" sees the man who was once the most exciting film-maker in the world stray into David Lynch territory - not in terms of style, but the fact that he has finally fallen into making a pretentious film for pretentious people.

"2046" carries the familiar meditations on lost love and emotional masochism and detachment that are the staples of all of Wong's previous films, but the deliberately confusing structure make this blend of period drama and surreal sci-fi more frustrating than the joyous puzzles he usually presents. In distancing the audience so profoundly, Wong draws attention to the fact that his film is glorifying in its own triumph and importance.

It not only leaves you cold, but furthermore, it results in a film that fades from the memory extremely quickly - not a charge to be aimed at any previous Wong Kar-wai film.

Visually stunning as always, with scenes of real power and poetic insight, "2046" is well worth seeing, but does not compare to the other films this director has made.

Movies, due to dubbing, are usually late in Germany. While the rest of the world is enjoying, or has finished enjoying their movies, we are still waiting here. Except when it comes to many of the new Asian movies.

2046 was the same. Already released on DVD me and my girlfriend were quite interested in seeing it. Having already seen "In the Mood for Love" we were looking forward to something much the same, except hopefully a little faster in pace and emotionally-heated. I thought I was going to be the Hero – renting a romance (which I don't normally go for) but it turned out to be a disappointment.

Perhaps it is not so much the fault of the movie, but of the trailers that lead you to believe that the movie is something that it isn't.

The movie is, like many other films from Kar Wai Wong, a visual masterpiece in my opinion. I was riveted to the images – he is truly a modern painter. This is not to be underestimated. This is enough to get you through the whole movie, despite its crawling pace. Simply for the images I can understand that many viewers would love this movie.

But it takes more then that to make the "ultimate love movie" (as it was advertised here in Germany). I found many parts in the movie confusing and mixed up, I got the impression towards the end that the movie might not be in chronological order. If it isn't, then there is much more to investigate for me, if it is, then I have to say that the movie isn't that clear, and that the characters motives and feelings are not always properly portrayed.

If this was a book, I would love to read it. Simply to get into the heads of the characters and find out what they were thinking, what was driving them, and how they were feeling. Perhaps that is what is left out, perhaps that is why we find it so odd here in the West. We are used to romances being opened and voiced, and usually simple. We are not used to people feeling emotions but hiding their motives behind those emotions, which might be more understood in a conservative society such as China.

This is a movie I would love to own, and watch over and over again, just to try to understand if there is any magic hidden that cannot be seen at the first watching. I would not be surprised if that is how it is, but the long dragging scenes might hinder me from sitting though it more then 2 more times, because it drags. Perhaps next time Kar Wai Wong should hire a brutal editor and good writer to get his ideas out, because this movie had greater potential then what it became. Still, for me it gets 7/10 : its far from BAD.

The title of the film, "2046," refers both to a time in the future and to a hotel room in the past. Chow Mo Wan is a writer living in Hong Kong in the mid to late 1960's. The hotel room he rents is right next door to Room 2046, whose various residents, all beautiful but troubled women, he observes and interacts with and puts into his fiction, a sci-fi story entitled "2046," about a futuristic world in which people desperate for love and happiness journey to an unspecified place called 2046 where, we are told, love remains eternal and nothing ever changes. Chow's literary work also reflects much of what he himself feels about women, love and relationships. It's not always easy following the time shifts and parallel stories upon which this multi-level narrative is constructed, but "2046" is a mesmerizing film for anyone willing and open enough to give himself over to the experience.

At the start, the film feels episodic and disjointed, as writer/director Kar Wai Wong reveals in gradual stages the complex story he is telling. We can tell that this is a movie that will require our full and undivided attention if we hope to enter into the minds of the filmmakers and make any real sense at all out of it. But after some initial confusion, most of the early ambiguity begins to fade away as the major themes and characters come to the fore. Chow is a man who has clearly lost the love of his life and who has since been trying to come to terms with that fact in his later dealings with women. He has made a decision - whether conscious or unconscious we are never really sure - to keep women at arm's length, being willing to bed or help them but not allowing himself to enter into any permanent or meaningful relationships with them. Instead, he uses his writing to express those yearnings for true companionship that he cannot allow himself to act upon in real life.

Unlike many Chinese films, which enact their tales against expansive landscapes bathed in glorious sunlight and vibrant colors, "2046" is set in a claustrophobic world of dingy rooms and darkened hallways, with the camera almost never journeying outdoors or even pulling very far back from the actors in the frame. The effect of this is to plunge us fully into the world and minds of the characters, particularly that of Chow, whose thoughts and musings become the canvas on which the story is painted. Tony Leung Chiu Wai gives a subtle, masterful performance as do the various actresses who play the women in his life. It is his affair with Bai Ling, a beautiful prostitute who wants more out of their relationship than Chow is willing to give, that leaves the greatest mark on our heart.

There are times when the movie seems almost too fancy and showy for its own good, when the simplicity of the theme gets buried under the complexity and artiness of the filmmaker's style. But this is, for the most part, a challenging and stimulating work that moves us even when we don't fully understand it.