HAPPY TOGETHER was re-written and re-conceived over and over again as they filmed on location in Argentina. It strained patience and health of Kar-Wai's loyal cast and crew, they even ran out of good film stock. But despite, or perhaps because of this long and difficult shoot, Kar-Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle have produced a brilliant, intensely passionate, sexy and stylish cinematic gem. Kar-Wai won Best Director award for it at Cannes in 1997. Ho (Leung) and his promiscuous lover Lai (Cheung) have run as far from Hong Kong as they can and now, short of cash, are stranded in cold Buenos Aires. They have a souvenir table lamp illustrating Iguazu Falls that they hoped to visit but can't afford to. They both want to go home now, Lai sleeps around perhaps to help him cope with the situation while Ho, more constructively takes unsavoury work as a doorman, cook and abattoir worker, kicking a football around with fellow workers to let off steam. The tensions and jealousies between them come to a head where Ho throws Lai out of the claustrophobic bedsit, only for him to come back pathetically with hands bandaged after some self-mutilation. Taking him in again they continue to play emotional games, but Ho resists the playful charms of Lai, knowing the relationship is over. He eventually reaches the Falls by himself but will he make it home unscathed
Director Wong Kar-Wai's reputation rests on his genius for combining audacious imagery with deceptively humane stories. But this adaptation of Manuel Puig's novel, The Buenos Aires Affair, is his least coherent or convincing film. The relationship between Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung, Hong Kong lovers on holiday in Argentina, is so destructive (their conversations are too accusatory and their actions overly selfish) that it's hard to empathise with either character. The switches from monochrome to colour are neatly judged and Wong's use of glowing shades and reflective surfaces is exemplary, but, ultimately, too much is sacrificed to the director's stylistic preoccupations.
Sight and Sound
"...Infinitely tantalising....Feelings captured in HAPPY TOGETHER linger with great, scratchy intensity..."
Entertainment Weekly
"...Slick AND poignant....Captures the weird, familiar rhythms of a last tango..." -- Rating: A-
Radio Times
