Happy Together (1997)

Happy Together, by Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai, is one of my all-time favourite movies, and along with The Tango Lesson one of the movies that has affected me the most. To me, HT is one of those (rare) art products that manage to combine formal beauty, intellectual sharpness and emotional depth all into one.

I have watched HT many times, and each time I felt that it had a new meaning to convey. My impressions about this movie have therefore shifted with time, leading me not to a definite interpretation but to the knowledge that art as life itself can be looked at from different points of view.

The story line is quite simple: two lovers leave Hong Kong and go to Argentina; once there, they argue so much they decide to break up; one of them (Ho Po-Wing) prostitutes himself, while the other (Lai-Yiu Fai) works in a tango-bar and virtuously puts money aside to return home; one day, chance unites them and for a short while they live happily together; inevitably, however, the friskier one becomes dissatisfied with their conjugal life; they separate again, and this time it's really the end. Needless to say, the movie's title as light-hearted as it sounds is actually quite deceiving: the two men's relationship turns out to be a rather "unhappy" one.

The first few times I watched HT I couldn't help feeling disgusted by Ho Po-Wing's moral hideousness I thought of him as the negative-model the movie meant to point the finger against. I thought the movie proved that although there are no "real heroes" some people do behave better than others, and that by self-discipline one could "redeem" one's soul... I thought the movie was about Aesthetics as a means of purification, as if Beauty could protect one from squalor. I admired Lai-Yiu Fai and mercilessly condemned Ho Po-Wing.

I still admire Lai-Yiu Fai, of course, but I now feel I was too superficial in judging Ho Po-Wing. I see he's not the monster I made him out to be in the past: he's a victim of his own temperament, a person misfortunate to the point of being unable to grasp the good life offers him. In this, I feel he well portrays many homosexuals, who, I'm afraid, often let happiness slip out of their hands, perhaps because a sick environment has taught them not to "love" but to "want." In my opinion, not only are we "all the same when we feel lonely," as Lai-Yiu Fai puts it that is: inclined to promiscuous sex we're also "all the same" in that we are all constantly on the verge of self-inflicted unhappiness.

Last time I watched HT, about a week ago, I got extremely sad, because I realised how easy it is for anyone to fall, and because through experience I've come to understand that so many of us are like Ho Po-Wing, damned to suffer the pains of degradation and solitude because of our "insatiability." We are taught that since we aren't attracted to someone of the opposite sex we are "bad" and have no values. Of course the effect of this is that we end up believing they are right. Thus, monogamy and fidelity become accessories, as tenderness and mutual support.

To me, Happy Together is about all this.

The first time i saw this movie, I have to admit, I fell asleep. And the second time I saw "HAPPY TOGETHER", I fell asleep again. But each time, I just wanted to slap myself because I had been told and knew deep down inside, it was a great movie. And finally, the third time I saw it, the movie just captured my heart.

"HAPPY TOGETHER" is a love story in it's most darkest and bittersweet form. Two gay lovers venture out to Argentina from Hong Kong and the idea of them being happy together is seriously tested. One lover (I can't remember the name) is stable, diligent, and so giving while the other one is just simply a selfish gay slut. They try several times to start over, but each time, the selfish lover wants to eat his cake too.

Like all of Wong Kar-wai's films, this one has little dialogue and the story is told mainly through visuals. The waterfall is a major theme running through the movie. The beginning opens up in black and white and later on, when the lovers start over again, color (in a very Wong Kar-wai-esque cinematic sense of it) comes in. And the soundtrack (mostly Astor Piazola) is just an unforgetable part of the movie.

I heard that before making this film, Wong Kar-wai was reading a lot of Manuel Puig (gay Argentine writer of "KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN"). Puig dealt with mainly the themes of unrequited love, impossible love, the love that hurts you more than gives you pleasure. And often, his characters where pretty much society's castoffs, whether because they were gay, revolutionaries, or just plain freaks. You can see a lot of these same themes in many of Wong Kar-wai films, but it hits the hardest in this one.

The plot is rather simple, but Wong Kar-wai seems to be the master of capturing those feelings people don't talk about-those feelings that show up only on our faces. In the end, I cried. Not because I had my heart broken in the same fashion, or because I'm one of those people uncapable of attaining love. I cried because the movie just eats away at your heart little by little and anywhere within the last 15 minutes of the film, the tears come and you don't know if you're crying because you're sad or you're happy.

Buy Happy Together (1997) Now

Fans of Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai will be thrilled by this new DVD edition of his classic film Happy Together.

The movie is slow-paced, low-key, and often shot in black in white. It is the story of two gay Chinese men in Buenos Aires, who are more often unhappy together than happy together. It is not an easy movie to watch perhaps and will not appeal to everyone, but as an art film and a gay-themed love story it is a contemporary classic.

I had an earlier release of this DVD, but purchased this new edition to see the making-of documentary Buenos Aires: Zero Degrees, which is a special feature on the new release. The documentary itself is a gem as it reveals so many storylines that did not appear in the final film. It is fascinating to see the directions the film might have taken and how such a different film could have come out of the editing room. We can really appreciate Wong Kar-Wai's process, working without a script, and see the difficulties it causes for the actors. Lead actor Tony Leung's comments about working on the film are especially insightful.

Wong Kar-Wai's In the mood for love is the film that brought him the greatest international recognition perhaps, but Happy Together was an important step on the road to that masterpiece. Few new fans will be won by this DVD, but for those who already appreciate Wong Kar-Wai's work this DVD is a must-have.

Read Best Reviews of Happy Together (1997) Here

Nowadays, Hong Kong movies on region 1 DVD is still a small numbers in the American market. In compare the remastered with those Hollywood films, Chinese films of DVD version may not be in top form. The R1 "Happy Together" (1997) that released by KINO is one of the good example of that.

The worse thing is the audio part, the volume level is very low and presented in very bad mono sound. (The problem is also occurred in R1 Fallen Angels, another film of Wong Kar-Wai and released by KINO. I doubt that the audio remasterd is in dolby digital 2.0, because my center speaker is no sound, but there is no indication on the package.) In compare with Japanese R2 Version of "Happy Together" (PIBF-7056, price:4700 yen, released by Prenom H), the audio part is brilliant.

However, the video tranferred in R1 version is quite impressed me. It is because the image is very match with the style of Chris Doyle (cinematography of the film) that done in the film.

By the way, I always thought that the disc is released too early.

Block 2 pictures Inc. recent released the documentary film named: "Buenos Aires Zero Degree: The making of Happy Together" (1999). The most important parts in that 59 minutes film is the cut scene, you will see the alternative version or vision of that film, for instance: Lai (Tony Leung) meets a female character on trip to waterfall and the death of Lai. It is not for promotion purposed, it is really a documentary about "Happy Together". If this documentary could be included on DVD, it would make the DVD most perfect. I wish that KINO would released a new DVD special edition of Happy Together with the documentary film and remake the audio channel.

Personally, I hope the disc could be released by Criterion. I'm so sure that if that come true, the disc would not be the same. Finally, If you are a fan of Wong Kar-Wai, don't miss his new movie: "In the Mood for Love" (2000).

Want Happy Together (1997) Discount?

Well, the texture of this film is familiar; it's very Wong Kar Wai, and I wasn't so much impressed by the style of the film as by the content. If you want style, In the Mood for Love is probably the summit of Wong's talent, not Happy Together. I read somewhere that Wong was interested in doing a film about a gay couple, a theme that is currently in vogue in worldwide film. Except, Wong wanted a twist or a stark examination of relationships whose nature is the same irrespect of sexual orientation. Happy Together evokes the masochism, the enslavement, and darkness of relationships between two people who are somehow just incompatible. Even though Fai and Ho are in love, they torture and tyrannize each other with vendettas of rejection, violence, abandonment, and feigned indifference. I find this an exceptional film that speaks a deep, dark truth that most people are afraid to confront and overcome. After seeing the performances of the actors and the all too truthful content of the film, I wholeheartedly agree that Wong won his Best Director award at Cannes resplendently fair and square.

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