Kar Wai Wong

The story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee.

Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.

Several women enter a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years, after the author has lost the woman he considers his one true love. In the aftermath of In the Mood for Love (2000), after losing Su Li-zhen, the love of his life, the journalist and author, Chow Mo-wan, returns to Hong Kong to write a book. Obsessed with finishing his new science fiction novel, Chow begins a series of romantic relationships with four different women; however, the more he tries to understand and forget, the more he finds himself haunted by his past. In his novel, a train sets off for a remote, mysterious destination in 2046, where passengers hope to reclaim their lost memories. Now, a maelstrom of beautiful and sad feelings, secret longings, and wild passions govern Chow's life, who's been trying to relive a life-altering experience ever since his doomed affair with Su: an emotionally intense relationship that has defined Chow's life and condemned his future romances. Has time stopped in Room 2046? —Nick Riganas The story evolves around the main character, Zhou Mo Wan who writes a novel about a mysterious train that leaves for a place called 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who boards that train has the same intention - which is to recapture their lost memories. It is said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knows for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back- except for one. He had been there but he chose to leave. He wanted to change. —chicken noodles

Set in the early 60s in Hong Kong, a newspaper editor Chow moves into a building with his wife. In the same building lives a beautiful secretary Li-zhen with her husband. Chow and Li-zhen often bump into each other and soon discover common interests. But when they realize that their spouses are having an affair, they are devastated. But despite the hurt and anger they vow not to go the path of their unfaithful partners.

This Hong Kong-set crime drama follows the lives of a hitman, hoping to get out of the business, and his elusive female partner. Wong Chi-ming, a cold-blooded Hong-Kong-based assassin, has decided that he wants out. One last job stands in the way of a new life; however, Wong is unaware that his female partner-in-crime is utterly infatuated with him. Then, Wong has a late-night encounter with seductive Blondie in a fast-food restaurant, only to spark his obsessed partner's jealousy. Elsewhere in the city, mute Ho Chi-mo, who has recently escaped from prison, uses unorthodox ways to eke out an existence. During one of his nightly escapades, Ho crosses paths with Charlie, who enlists his help to find her ex-boyfriend's new lover. But, can there be redemption for the fallen angels? —Nick Riganas A stoic hitman doubting the chosen career, the trusty if elusive client for whom he carries a torch, some phone-addicted female and an ex-criminal weirdo populate urban Hong Kong's sordid night scape. How these types manage to connect or, for that matter, miserably fail to do so, is anyone's guess. —Ill-Literate A disillusioned killer embarks on his last hit but first he has to overcome his affections for his cool, detached partner. Thinking it's dangerous and improper to become involved with a colleague he sets out to find a surrogate for his affections. Against the sordid and surreal urban nightscape of contemporary Hong Kong, he crosses path with a strange drifter looking for her mysterious ex-boyfriend and an amusing mute trying to get the world's attention in his own unconventional ways. —Perry Yu <perry@pobox.com> Fallen Angels is the story of a professional killer in Hong Kong. It follows the in's and out's of his job and his partner in crime who he rarely sees. After 3 years of working together he wants out. Another sub-plot is about a mute (caused by eating expired cans of pineapples for a month, after he was heart broken) who breaks into restaurants, cafés and ice-cream trucks at night and forces people to buy his goods! —Luke Anderson <lando1@hotmail.com>

A broken-hearted hit man moves to the desert where he finds skilled swordsmen to carry out his contract killings. Ou-yang Feng lives in the middle of a desert, where he acts as a middle man to various swordsmen in ancient China. One of those swordsmen is Huang Yao-shi, who has found some magic wine that causes one to forget the past. At another time, Huang met Mu-rong Yin and under the influence of drink, promised to marry Mu-rong's sister Mu-rong Yang. Huang jilts her, and Mu-rong Yin hires Ou-yang to kill Huang. But then Mu-rong Yang hires Ou-yang to protect Huang. This is awkward, because Mu-rong Yang and Mu-rong Yin are in reality the same person. Other unrelated plot lines careen about. Among them is Ou-yang's continuing efforts to destroy a band of horse thieves. Oy-yang recruits another swordsman, a man who is going blind and wants to get home to see his wife before his sight goes completely. The swordsman is killed. Ou-yang then meets another swordsman who doesn't like wearing shoes. Oy-yang sends this man after the horse thieves, with better results. We then find out what a man must give up to follow the martial path. —Scott Hamilton <stomptokyo@aol.com>

The movie comprises two different stories, told one after the other, each about a romance involving a policeman. Aside for a brief moment when the first story ends and the second begins, the two stories do not interconnect. However, the three main characters from the second story each momentarily appear during the first. First story The first story concerns Taiwan-born cop He Qiwu, also known as Cop 223 (played by Kaneshiro). Qiwu's girlfriend May broke up with him on April 1 (April Fool's Day). His birthday is May 1 and he chooses to wait for May for a month before moving on. Every day he buys a tin of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1. By the end of this time, he feels that he will either be rejoined with his love or that it will have expired forever. Meanwhile, a woman in a blonde wig (played by Brigitte Lin) tries to survive in the drug underworld after a smuggling operation goes sour. On May 1, Qiwu, looking for romance, approaches the woman in the blonde wig at a bar (the Bottoms Up Club). However, she is exhausted and falls asleep in a hotel room, leaving him to watch movies alone. She leaves in the morning and shoots the drug baron (played by Thom Baker) who had set her up. Qiwu goes jogging and receives a message from her on his pager wishing him a happy birthday. He then visits his usual snack food store where he collides with a new staff member, Faye. At this point, a new story begins. Second story In the second story, the unnamed Cop 663 (played by Tony Leung) is similarly dealing with a breakup, this time from a flight attendant (Valerie Chow). He meets Faye, the new girl at the snack bar (played by Faye Wong). She falls for him in secret, and frequently breaks into his apartment during the day to redecorate and "improve" his living situation. Gradually, her ploys help Cop 663 to cheer up, and he eventually realises that Faye likes him and arranges a date at the restaurant 'California'. However, Faye stands him up after a last-minute decision to see the world before settling down; she leaves him a fake boarding pass with a date a year from now. In the last scene, Faye arrives back in Hong Kong, now a flight attendant; she finds that Cop 663 has bought the snack bar and is converting it into a restaurant. Their future however always remains ambivalent.