Wong Kar-Wai's 2046

is quite good. My favorite pair of scenes: An android on a train to a place where all memories are stored stares out the window and waits for love. The screen goes black, the words 10 MINUTES LATER in white letters. She is still staring, waiting. 10 HOURS LATER. Still staring. 100 HOURS LATER. Still waiting.

The other scene comes a while later. The protagonist, ladies man Chow, has been asked to re-write the sad ending to his novel, to make it happier. The woman who wants him to re-write it is a lost love, and incidentally, is the same woman who plays the android on the train.

So, he holds a fountain pen. We get a close-up of the pen hovering over blank paper, poised. The screen goes black, the words 10 MINUTES LATER in white letters. We get a shot of the pen, still hovering. 10 HOURS LATER. The pen is still hovering. 100 HOURS LATER. The pen is still poised.

I love this pair of scenes: what writer hasn't been paralized in the face of wanting to create happiness, to write himself a happy ending? And how many writers write to create a place where all memories can be stored? And the scenes imply, to me, that a writer is an android on a train, waiting, futilely, for love.