Wong Kar-Wai's sequel to In the Mood for Love epitomizes the phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to," and then some. 2046 also manages to outdo most sequels ever made in that it succeeds at existing on its own, outside the confines of "you had to see the first one" syndrome.
The story focuses on a writer, and at first, the audience is left a touch in the dark as to which reality they are being shown serves as their true frame of reference.
Throughout the rest of the two-hour plus runtime, we are still misled here and there by a narrator (the writer) who lies to us. He'll profess to never see someone again, and then they reappear a half hour later.
The role of the voice over narrator has been the subject of much debate and analysis throughout cinema history. Some would laud its use as a grand tradition evident in some of the greatest films, where others would lead you to believe it to be the pinnacle of didactic storytelling. Why just tell someone what's happening when you can show them?
2046 makes a fantastic case for the narrator by building our relationship to Chow partly in what we see him do on the screen and partly by the way we do and don't trust him as our guide through the story of a few years in his life.
Wong has given us the portrait of many male writers' dreams, where the semi-hero (I wouldn't go so far as anti-hero) gets laid regularly, makes a living of writing, and manages to flourish in a mediocre, apathetic state of being for years on end.
The ability to lose oneself in their writing to get away from the rigors of real life is gifted, but one who manages to wrest free of that fantasy world truly has power over himself.
Chow's struggle revolves around whether or not he can break free of this tempting cycle, and it's an infinitely relatable situation. Folks stuck in terminally bad romantic relationships, those in dead-end jobs, and undergraduate college students in the middle of a bad economy all struggle with this conflict in some respect.
2046 runs too long for the modern viewer, but it's certainly the best 1960s "think" movie made in the 21st century. If you're going to the movies for action-packed, blockbuster thrill rides, you've bought the wrong ticket here.
What Wong has done with this film is give us a lean, pulse-quickening portrait of an intriguing character: the man we all do and don't want to be all at once.