Sometimes the Cannes Film Festival can be a cruel mistress. For every movie that benefits from a Cannes premiere (No Country for Old Men), just as many films fall by the wayside after bowing to a less than enthusiastic reception from sleep-deprived international journalists (Richard Kelly's Southland Tales which got bitch slapped into oblivion after tanking at the 2006 edition). And the opening night slot at Cannes has been notoriously unlucky for even the world's greatest directors.

My Blueberry Nights, Wong Kar-wai's first English-language movie, bombed big time last year in Cannes where it was the fest's opening salvo. While some French critics warmed up to Wong's American-made road movie/romance, most of the press wasn't as kind (Yank critics in particular worked themselves into a tizzy dissing the film).

And what was Wong's reward for flopping in Cannes? The Weinstein Company, the movie's US distributor, promptly shelved Blueberry Nights, adding it to their gaping stockpile of abandoned films. They even denied Wong the opportunity to screen his movie at any of last fall's major festivals (Toronto, New York, et al). For all intents and purposes, My Blueberry Nights was dead. There were even rumors that the cash-strapped Weinsteins would cut their losses and ship Blueberry straight to DVD.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to home-video ignominy. Since the ill-fated Cannes premiere, Wong re-edited the film himself, chopping 20 minutes or so from the original cut. Not having seen that earlier version, I can't tell you what's missing in this new, apparently more streamlined release print. But since it's what's up on the screen that counts, Wong's "new and improved" My Blueberry Nights is something of a minor triumph. It's also essential viewing for fans of such previous Wong masterworks as In the Mood for Love and 2046.

Part road flick, part love story, part female empowerment yarn and a visual tone poem of uniquely Wong-ian delight every rapturously beautiful minute, Blueberry Nights is what cinema is all about. Even the things that don't work — an occasional stiffness in the dialogue (the script was co-written by Wong and Lawrence Block), a certain shapelessness to the overall narrative arc - turn out to be blessings in disguise. Wong has always preferred working off the cuff, rejiggering entire films during production and sometimes completely altering the original concept. That's what makes them so rich, vital and moving: They have the fluidity and in-the-moment quality of real life or free-form jazz. Singer-songwriter Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a recently dumped New York gamine whose romantic odyssey takes her from Manhattan to Memphis, Nevada and various points in between. Jones, who received some particularly savage notices for her acting debut, may not be the movie's most seasoned actor (heavyweights Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn and Natalie Portman round out Wong's superlative and eclectic cast), but she gives the most affecting performance. The multiple Grammy winner's kewpie-doll adorableness makes it impossible not to fall in love with unlucky-in-love Elizabeth.

After bonding with cafe proprietor Jeremy (Law at his most blithely charming) late one night over a slice of — you guessed it — blueberry pie, Elizabeth hits the road for destination(s) unknown. Along the way she befriends an unhappily married couple (Weisz and Strathairn) and a frosted-haired gambler (Portman, more adrenaline-charged than she's been in years) who isn't as tough a cookie as she thinks.

There's really not that much more to the "plot," but as usual with Wong, it's the privileged moments — and the densely layered, lushly gorgeous images of cinematographer Darius Khondji (ably filling in for Chris Doyle, Wong's usual director of photography) — that you'll remember more than any particular "incident" or story beats. Wong turns a furtive, sticky kiss (yes, blueberry pie is involved) between Jeremy and Elizabeth into one of the most ecstatic and erotic passages in recent memory. And his lighting and framing of individual shots remains unsurpassed among contemporary filmmakers.

My Blueberry Nights: Opens Friday at the Cedar Lee Theater, 2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 440-564-2034, clevelandcinemas.com.