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“2046”

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

Sony Pictures Classics

The Wong Kar-Wai DVD box set comes emblazoned with a rather impressive quote from Time on the cover: “The most romantic filmmaker in the world.” No, no, no. Of all the contentious statements that could be made about Wong – including, even, world’s greatest director – “most romantic” is often thrown about, but it’s just wrong. Wong makes films that are about love, and he does so better – they can be beautiful, exhilarating, poetic – than any director today. But to reduce him to romantic is too easy. Nowhere is this more evident than in his latest work, the masterful “2046.”

“2046” finally arrives in the United States as heavily anticipated as any art house film has been in some time, for the simple reason that it is a sequel to 2000’s “In the Mood for Love,” perhaps the best film of the past decade (calm down, David Lynch fans). But whereas “Mood” was a focused, restrained look at the impossible romance between two neighbors, “2046” is a sprawling series of variations on its aftershocks, in CinemaScope.

The title refers to the hotel room number where the characters Su Lizhen and Chow Mowan may or may not have consummated their relationship in “In the Mood for Love.” “2046” picks up in Hong Kong 1966, after the two have gone their separate ways, and follows Chow’s (Tony Leung) ensuing days as a swinging bachelor. He chances upon an old friend staying in room 2046 of another hotel, himself moving into room 2047. By this time, he’s transformed into something of a cold womanizer and carries out a string of ill-fated relationships in a pathetic attempt to recapture the memory of his old flame. It’s about as romantic as “Vertigo.”

Chow’s feelings of loss and emotional distance are mirrored in the futuristic fiction he churns out, a novel he sets in the year 2046, where some people travel to a place called 2046 to, yes, recapture old memories. Wong’s vision of Chow’s vision is – in the tradition of any sci-fi vision worth its salt – a stark and cold world, and most of what he shows us takes place on a train where passengers hold on to android fembots for warmth. Chow titles this novel, appropriately, “2046.”

If all of this sounds layered, complex and self-reflexive, that’s because it is. Multiple viewings may be required to get one’s head fully around the film, but it is carefully structured with its own rhythm, and is anything but obtuse. The film isn’t exactly “8 1⁄2,” but it’s fair game to suggest that metacinematic tendencies do surface. One can’t help but view Chow’s role as surrogate narrator and his struggle to summon up lost magic as a commentary by Wong on the daunting task of following “In the Mood for Love.” Critics have said the film is emotionally uninvolving, but that might just be the point. The cumulative effect devastates.

The level of craft put into this film is stunning, most notably in the acting, set design, and cinematography. Every frame is a poster. With the possible exception of Terence Malick’s upcoming “The New World,” a better-looking film will not grace screens this year.

Romantic, no. But “2046” shrugs off the expectations of “In the Mood for Love” to emerge on its own merit as an entirely different and truly great film about love, and everything after it.

-Alfred Lee