i once did a 23 day walk carrying water, chapatis and a can of peanut butter. the chapatis were made fresh each day, some from tea stalls, some by my own hand in the houses of people i met. never has a chapati been such a delicacy. *grins. yum. the blog i mean, not the roti.

Perhaps it is the same theme in a more abstract form that he tries to imbue into 2046. Cho Mo Wan tries to stay in 2046, but ends in room 2047. Room 2046 is something he peeks through a hole, constantly longing for the past. He longs for Su Li Zhen and tries to forget the lost love in the arms of passing women. Everything heartless he does pushes the memory of Su Li Zhen into oblivion, much like Cantonese who did everything they could to escape Hong Kong before its return to China. Yet, he cannot escape the memory much like the Cantonese living in their romanticized memory of Hong Kong. I think it is this disjunction of what one desires and what one becomes when that desire is lost that WKW is vaguely trying to delineate in 2046. Hong Kong is a place that many Cantonese people romanticize with their past lives while fearing what would become of them when it returns to China. It is no coincidence that the year 2046 is the 50th anniversary of Hong Kongís return to China. Perhaps I am reading too much from the movie. Or perhaps some of WKWís life found their way into the story.

WKW has lost his home twice in his life. He left China when he was 5 and lost Hong Kong to China in 1997. I think it is safe to say that there is an inherent sense of dislocation in his movies. And I think the sense of dislocation and nostalgia is always hidden in many of WKWís movies. Cho Mo Wan confesses in 2046 that some of his life found their way into the novel he was writing (I think this is quite suggestive. WKW noted that the hotel room in Chung King Express was actually the room he used to live in during the 80s when he was an aspiring scenario writer. HmmmmmÖ perhaps he was a womanizer during that periodÖ Wait, he did say he was quite a ìplayerî in this youth. And we all know how narcissistic WKW can be..). The train in 2046 is, I dare think, the manifestation of this mix of dislocation and nostalgia. It is always on the move (dislocation) and you are there to relive the past. In fact, the train never stops at any station in the movie. Perhaps, it is just a bad sequel with a series of incoherent themes about how people get fucked up when the timing of the love of their lives is off.

But I do think there is a thread of hope. Tak (the handsome Japanese guy) in the train is the projection of Cho Mo Wan while the same guy who is in love with Wang Jing Wen (the first daughter of the hotel owner) is a real character (What?). And he is the first to return from train 2046. So, if WKW is projecting some of his images vaguely through Cho Mo Wan who is also talking through Tak in the train, there is a chance that WKW is suggesting an end to this theme of dislocation and nostalgia. By the way, in some of the train scenes, it is difficult to tell if it is Tak or Cho Mo Wan who is doing the narrative. And I think this is intentional. I think this ëimaginationí of hope is quite relevant because WKW has said on numerous occasions that 2046 ends his narrative about Hong Kong and nostalgia. Now, that makes me supremely curious about Eros and The Lady from Shanghai. I just hope that he wonít walk the rotten path of Zhang Yimou (just watch Hero and House of Flying Daggers for this point).