Like many of Wong Kar-Wei's films, 2046 references much of his other work.

It's certainly a semi-sequel to In The Mood For Love, with Leung reprising his role and Maggie Cheung putting in a cameo appearance, and also pays homage to his 1991 movie Days of Being Wild.

Leung is a broken hearted writer in Hong Kong who becomes a heartless cad, using women and dumping them.

He becomes intrigued by, and eventually involved with, his beautiful neighbour in room 2046 (Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers) before discarding her too.

Haunted by memories of his previous time in Singapore he writes a series of stories, entitled 2046.

The sci-fi tales tell of an endless train journey to a place where travellers can recapture memories of their pasts – a journey from which only one person has ever returned.

To say that this film from Wong Kar-Wei was highly anticipated is an understatement.

Five years in the making, it was a no-show at Cannes and was subsequently pulled from both the Edinburgh Film Festival and a planned NFT screening.

So the big question is - was it worth the wait?

The answer is, tragically, no. For me this was a bigger disappointment for me than The Phantom Menace – I've been looking forward to this film for the past three years and it was a mess.

2046 is one of the most beautiful films ever - and the first Wong Kar-Wei has shot in widescreen.

But it is confusing, incoherent and feels much longer than its 125 minutes.

There's no story as such, rather a series of vignettes; characters drift in and out and sub plots are introduced and then dropped with no real development or conclusion.

Being beautiful and haunting just isn't enough.

Adrian Zak