That's another thing about Wong: even when you're not quite sure what he's trying to say, or if he actually has anything to say, you get your money back in the beauty with which he says it.

As visually lush and distinctive and enveloping as you would expect from a Wong Kar-wai film, with space for performances that have impact.

[A] flaky disaster.

A visual masterpiece, Wong Kar-wai's stylized mannerisms waffle between artifice and a certain coldness that is only overcome in the end by dramatic and emotional intensity.