2046 is directed by Wong Kar-Wai, best known for In the Mood for Love. The number of the title refers to a hotel room number, as well as the year in which several short stories by playboy Chow Mo Wan (Leung) are set. Chow Mo Wan lives in room 2047 so that he may spy on room 2046, the number of which recalls yet another hotel room where he had consummated his love for a married woman, a love which haunts him. When he isn't writing pulp fiction, Chow indulges in a series of affairs with various beautiful women. Each relationship is distinct, but they all combine emotional, intellectual and physical intensity. They also augment the sense of loss which inspires Chow's fiction and his life. Tony Leung's performance as Chow is outstanding; the leading ladies (Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Faye Wong) are as convincing as they are elegant.
2046 offers brilliant camera work that endows the shabby Hong Kong of the 1960s with an almost dream-like glamour and dignity. A meditation on desire and the impact that a moment of experience may have on a lifetime, 2046 is an extraordinary film, quite unlike anything else on the programme. See it!