A triumph of style of substance, in the end. Which isn't to say that there's no substance, merely that there's just too much style.
"2046" is a dazzling showcase of technique, never tiring of its own preening beauty. Wong Kar Wai uses colour, particularly bamboo green, exquisitely; he creates wonderful illusions with transitions between scenes, sometimes replaying the same action from a variety of affected perspectives. Most striking is his penchant for veiling part of the camera lens, shutting off part of the vision to create a new, reshaped screen. It's marvellous stuff.
But it gets in the way. Any emotional connection with the love stories being told by the narrator, looking back over his life with considerable regret, is continually broken by the stylistic exercises. Visually, there's just too much going on, too much to remind us that we're only watching a film. A bizarre, futuristic interlude towards the end doesn't especially help: ambitious, yet pointlessly so.
Which is a shame, as there's potential here. It's never realised, though; it's just left in a corner, forgotten by its creator. A beautiful failure.
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