User reviews

Just when you thought that you knew everything about Hong Kong cinema or about romantic adventures in film, director Kar Wai Wong steps forward and eliminates all boundaries. Transforming your typical picture of a straight couple and violently handing us the relationship of Yiu-fai and Po-wing using untraditional cinematography is only scratching the surface of this picture. If you found yourself shocked by the opening sequence or annoyed by the drastic image of the film, then you definitely are not a film junkie. This movie had everything a cinephile would desire like strong characters, a non-linear story, and the brazen truth about modern society's relationships. This was more than just a gay film, but instead a story about emotions and loves, coupled with all the turmoil that surrounds it. It is ironic that the title of the film is Happy Together, because it completely challenges the true themes. It is about love, but about the difficulties that surround a dying relationship. From the visual opening to the amazing use of several different cinematography techniques, Happy Together may not suit everyone, but to this film junkie it opened a new door in Hong Kong cinema.

This film would not have worked if it weren't for the apparent brilliance of director Kar Wai Wong. While I have been impressed with his other films like In the Mood for Love and his work on the BMW series, The Hire, this film literally blew me out of the water. To begin, the opening sequence. If this very sexual opening doesn't set the tone for the rest of the film, I don't know what will. I was shocked, disturbed, and on-edge the entire time. I didn't see the love between our two characters at all in the beginning, but that was because it was to show the destruction of their relationship. Then, Wong did several things that just impressed me and kept my attention focused on the film. First, he took these two vacationing men from Hong Kong and set them in a foreign city. So, not only was it uneasy to watch this relationship disintegrate in front of our eyes, but to be lost in a unfamiliar city only made it worse. Second, he focused the camera on only one of the characters (Yiu-fai) to enhance that sensation about Po-wing's indiscretions. Through Yiu-fai we felt the human emotions just boil through of having to see a love that only hurt. Finally, he continually changed the cinematography through different scenes. This was impressive because it only added more tension to our characters and themes. Two travelers lost in a foreign country, trying to patch a dying relationship, with a constantly changing cinematic style, was tough to watch … but that was the theme that Wong wanted to capture. This is not your typical romantic picture, but instead it showcases the truth about two men that perhaps were not the greatest fit. Even when he throws in the waterfall element, it only adds to the overall theme. The waterfall, to me, represented the falling relationship. Beauty on the outside, a violent tendency as the water falls … just like our relationship.

Wong successfully created this tension by hiring some of Hong Kong's best actors. They carried themselves with the greatest of comfort and control. I felt as if I knew these characters by the end of the film. I felt as if I had gone through a similar struggle as they did. These two men challenged the idea of "normal" relationships, yet kept their personas simple, human, and intense. You could not help but feel emotion for these two, even if you did not like the story. They kept the tones light when they needed to be, then brought you deep within the rabbit hole when the darkness erupted. The final scenes of this film are fascinating to watch, and I had to see them again. The downfall of Yiu-fai into a role similar to Po-wing was heartbreaking, yet stunning. Here we have two men who I thought were complete opposites from the beginning, yet somehow, to quote Wong, "Turns out that lonely people are all the same."

Finally, I cannot finish without saying that the cinematography was outstanding in this film. The use of black and white in the beginning and slowly bringing in the colors was breathtaking. This film was more than just actors working for a director, but instead a director creating art. Christopher Doyle bulls-eyed the tone of the film and brought forth an intense picture that only complimented Wong's work. It just impresses me to see a film, like Happy Together, where all the elements come together and work in unison. It is a rarity in today's Hollywood, but thankfully we have directors like Kar Wai Wong whom embrace it. From the beginning of the movie until the final scenes, Doyle challenges an brings together some of the most beautiful scenes in cinema, transforming the normal into the extraordinary.

Overall, this was a spectacular film. After I watched it the first time, I had to see it again, but didn't know if I could. Its emotional strength was so overwhelming that I had to stop myself. I couldn't watch these two brilliant actors tear my heart apart again. It was a sad film, it was an angry film, but most importantly it was a film about being lost in love. Those who may have enjoyed Lost in Translation, this would be a great film to match with it. While not structured the same, it does give us that feeling of being apart in a new world, struggling to get home or to discover one's self. Wong is one of the greatest directors in the world, and I cannot wait to open my soul to his work again. Brilliant film-making, determined and unmatched acting, coupled with the best cinematography this world has ever encountered! A must for everyone!

Grade: **** out of *****

"Happy Together" is a depressing film. Yet it's one which I keep coming back to when I feel down and heartbroken.

Lost souls, lonely, longing, and lovelorn, are staples in the Wong Kar-Wai universe. His best works uncannily portray the beauty and misery of being struck by love and its multiple variations and illusions. His fluid, script-free, improvisational style of work is now legendary and applies well to the unpredictable nature of this subject matter while giving his works a raw, open-ended quality. "Happy Together" is quite probably his rawest work to date and, as a result, one of the most difficult to watch (this honor goes to "Ashes of Time"). The rawness makes it seem organic. It feels as if it's an ever-evolving creature which hides and exposes its multiple facets with each different viewing.

Argentina sounds like a great romantic escape for most of us but for our couple, Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) and Yiu-fai (Tony Leung), it's a lonely, bleak, melancholic place on the edge of the world. Travelogue film this isn't. Buenos Aires may have initially held romantic promise for them. "Let's start over," Po-wing asks Yiu-fai yet again, and off they go to South America to work things out. Soon, however, the place becomes a physical representation of their relationship. It's claustrophobic and oppressive, something that could've been so beautiful yet one which they now need to escape from. Wong beautifully portrays spectacular Iguazu Falls with mythical significance throughout the film. Initially nothing more than amusing kitsch, it eventually progresses as the defining geographical manifestation of their amorous aspirations. It achieves such heavy, symbolic power, the last time we see it is one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

If the homosexual angle seems downplayed here, it is to parallel the film's treatment. It's so matter-of-fact it's irrelevant and even embarrassing to make an issue out of it. This is a couple who just happens to be gay. Indeed, there is nothing gay-specific about the film, the couple may well have been straight and it wouldn't make a difference at all.

"Happy Together" is such a vivid examination of a relationship, it's occasionally painful to watch. The emotional authenticity, however, makes it quite absorbing. Wong Kar-Wai often aims for the heart and, with the possible exception of "In the Mood for Love", he's never been closer to his target.

In "Happy Together" Director Wong Kar Wai tells us the story of a relationship that does not survive the alienation inside and outside.

The film is set in Argentina where two lovers are stranded because they don't have enough money to return to their native Hong Kong.

The film shows us that Fai and Po-wing are unable to find equality or balance in their relationship. It is a story about the way most relationships are defined by the balance of power.. and how this leads to despair. Fai reflects that their relationship was the happiest when Po-wing was ill and had to be cared for like a child. As Po Wing's health improves Fai draws away from him and refuses his attempts of closeness, illustrated by the constant battles over couch and bed. When Po-Wing is well enough to go out again by himself the balance of the power in relationship shifts. Po-wing slowly but surely slips away into the world of hustling. He never finds his way back to Fai who eventually saves enough money to go home.

Both are emotionally devastated by the loss of their lover. We only see them being happy together in a glimpse, as they dance a slow dance together in their room. It seems the happiness in their relationship that Fai refers to in connection with Po-Wing's illness, is an isolated kind of happiness that he himself enjoys without Po-wing's knowledge. If they are ever indeed Happy Together we see it only in facial expressions, in their tone of voice but these are expressions of love and tenderness that never seem to reach the surface that remain unspoken.

Wong Kar Wai's visual style is absolutely stunning. He conveys the alienation inside the relationship - and the alienation outside - (I am referring to the fact that they are in a different country) through colors and camera-movements. We are constantly looking at the protagonists from a corner high above or through the window of a seedy bar. Every single shot feels claustrophobic and it irritates the viewer. It makes the viewer long for closeness and clarity. It imitates the longing of the characters and their attempts - and failure - at connecting to each other. Their feelings, as does the eye of the lens, float above them in a silent, detached loneliness.

"Happy Together" is one of those films that I do not really enjoy watching. It is actually physically painful to watch because it hurts the eye as much as it hurts the soul. The film makes its style and subject matter into one flesh, a "happy" marriage of form and content.

9/10

In this Wong Kar Wai production, loneliness takes on the face of 3 Chinese travellers who, after alienating themselves from the society they came from, end up at the end of the world. Argentina, which is the antithesis of HK, may be the farthest place you can get from HK, but still they cannot entangle themselves from the emotional baggage they have been carrying. Loneliness is a state of mind which follows you no matter where you are, and ensnarls you when you are at your most vulnerable.

While the story may be more famous as a film about gay relationship, it is in fact, not so. The lead characters just happen to be gay, and loneliness, with all the jealousy and melancholy that comes with it, takes centrestage.

I didn't think so the first time I saw HAPPY TOGETHER, but I really think this film is a masterpiece. Technically it's amazing - the hand-held camera-work is incredible, and the mindbending shifts from saturated colors to monochrome (which I first felt was a stylish stunt) really underscores the loneliness and alienation of the characters brilliantly - the overall effect by the films' end is devastating.

HAPPY TOGETHER was apparently also - at least partially - inspired by the Argentine novelist Manuel Puig, author of 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman' among many other novels, and Puig's fiction tackles similar issues in a similarly fractured style (filled with footnotes, digressions and sudden shifts in perspective), all to incredibly powerful emotional effect.

If HAPPY TOGETHER is something of an homage to Puig, it's a great one. On it's own it's also a devastating portrait of a disintegrating relationship.

Wong Kar Wai's 'Happy Together' Happy Together is a Hong Kong film released in 1997 and directed by popular Chinese director, Wong Kar Wai. It stars Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung and tells the story of two gay men who have moved to Argentina to escape Hong Kong after it has been handed over to the Chinese. It depicts a turbulent romance between the two characters Ho-po Wing and Lai Yui- Fai. I found the film extremely interesting in the way it represents not only relationships but the relationship between two homosexual men. The film tackles manipulation, neediness and loneliness, all common occurrences in many relationships. It presents Po Wing and Fai as a normal couple, no different than a heterosexual couple. I particularly enjoy how they both have a gender role, with one being more clingy and needy than the other. The film is rather touching and moving in the way it emphasises the damage a relationship can have on an individual involved.

The acting was very good and convincing and you did believe the emotion felt. The mise-en- scene is also very interesting in this film, the use of black and white and colour to represent different time frames is very clever and interesting and the general low key lighting of the film makes it feel very gritty. The location in which it is set is not glamorous or desirable and in particular Fai's apartment is very basic and can also act as a metaphor for Fai's state of mind, messy and dark.

The cinematography was very good at helping to tell the story in the best way possible and creates an almost claustrophobic feeling with many close and medium shots and locations often being small. The claustrophobic feeling from the closed in cinematography creates a similar feeling to what Fai's character must be feeling, closed in and trapped by his ex/lover Po Wing.

All in all, I think this film is definitely worth a watch but could possibly be frustrating if you are easily bored. Its an interesting piece of cinema when it comes to psychology and is a interesting spin on a love story.

Innovative, special and inspired. I runned into the cinema, having no idea of what kind of movie was expecting me. It was a big surprise. The story was really nothing that would interest me in anyway, but this is the proof, that beauty is on the form .

What an amazing film! Full of resources and passion. They say it wasn't all new, or maybe any of it, but it was elegant, and unusual.

I was touched, and amazed. For me it was the revelation of a genius. His following works confirmed this impression. Wong Kar Wai is a great artist.

Thank you very much!

After seeing the recent DVD release of "2046", I was curious to take in an earlier film by wunderkind Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. This visually arresting though rather discombobulated film from 1997 is more modest in scope, as it focuses on the unhealthily co-dependent relationship between two on-again, off-again gay lovers from Hong Kong, who end up broke on a last-chance trip to Argentina. In a volatile yin-yang situation, Ho Po-Wing is the cockier and apparently needier of the two, always in search of the next rush of instant gratification regardless of the source, while Lai Yiu-Fai is the controlling partner either unblinkingly morose or explosively volatile. In terms of where the story starts, their relationship has become nothing but a series of arguments and break-ups.

With no flashback to point to a happier time or a hint of a positive indication as to why they are together, Wong comes up short in inflaming any sparks that could still be struck between lovers who argue constantly. Moreover, the film really has little structure other than to show the difficulties which people have in sustaining a connection. A third person is introduced but in an intentionally vague manner, as Lai gets a new job at a restaurant and meets the effusive Chang, a young Taiwanese trying to earn enough to fund his travels abroad. A romance does not occur but an emotional connection does, which causes Lai to make moves toward liberating himself from his depraved situation.

Except for a somewhat graphic opening scene, the homosexual elements are downplayed in favor of a kinetic energy that leverages Christopher Doyle's creative cinematography. Doyle combines black-and-white sequences with color, as well as the random use of different film stocks, exposures and frame rates to manipulate the passage of time. He also lends stunning overview shots of Iguazu Falls, the movie's metaphorical centerpiece, lending a dream-like, salvation quality to the couple's hoped-for destination. Both the attractive leads lend visceral energy and an emotional authenticity to their roles - Wong's favorite leading man, Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Lai and the late Leslie Cheung as Ho. The passionate, often violent dynamics between the two are convincing. Chen Chang effectively infuses Chang with an idealism that makes Lai's attraction, platonic or not, understandable.

Although I think Wong is a supremely talented director, I was surprised to find out that this film earned him the Best Director prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, flawed as the film is. Although it is as visually audacious as "2046", I have to admit I was left a bit cold emotionally by the end product. The DVD does include an invaluable looking-back documentary called "Buenos Aires - Zero Degree". An hour in length and for once, a truly indispensable supplement, it shows the movie's evolution through rehearsals, script development and cast interviews, including deleted scenes of abandoned subplots and characters.

Happy Together is a throbbing, raw, and profoundly nostalgic lament from two displaced traveling Chinamen yearning for emotional soundness, for their homeland, and for each other. Wong doesn't front us any of the flickering that can still be struck between lovers who fight all the time. There is no deep poetic interpretation of the story itself, but by leaving so much unsaid, writer-director Wong Kar-Wai doesn't make the misstep of suffocating his characters' relationship with trite soap dialogue. That is not to say, however, that the film even remotely knows the meaning of the phrase "less is more."

You don't watch this film as much as seize on to it. Letting it yank you every which way is a raucous yet intriguing excursion, with fertile visual stylizations that trail you long after seeing the film, all with the impact to communicate directly with the heart. The visuals make the film come alive, and make material the displacement, and thus the unhinging, that the main characters feel from their surroundings and each other. Rather than using dialogue, this highly stylized romance chiefly imparts its themes and moods through its images, and Wong fashions an interior audiovisual composition about the mood swings of a love affair. Wong's use of images for purely emotional photogenic value, feverish camera movements, jukebox soundtrack and his improvisation and experimentation with the actors have an effect reminiscent of Scorsese's Mean Streets. In Wong's emotional roller coaster of a film, the characters seem to have a formidable intuitive certainty that their relationship is star- crossed sooner or later, but they follow passionate impulses regardless, giving the film a dreamy texture that it can't shake as its lovers turn-step to and fro during their free-form Argentine spree.

Wong gradually layers the relationship, just like it would happen in real life, and the doubts and obscurities are constant. He extracts powerful performances from his lead actors. While Leslie Cheung gracefully fluctuates his moments between yearning, resentment, and anger, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is the calm eye of the storm.

Leung acts from the inside. We intuit his feelings through his natural physical subtleties, chiefly through the sensitive eyes. Even purely physical scenes, like the fights he has with Leslie Cheung's character, don't happen suddenly. Leung winds up for these moments instinctively and then defensively underplays them. And when the tears come, they pour without affectation, making me wonder from what part of Leung's soul he quietly unearths these moments from as Wong rolls the camera.

Wong Kar-Wai is in fine form with this tale of a pair of lovers in a strange land.

Christopher Doyle's cinematography provides some of the most beautiful images a disheveled urban landscape could possibly yield. I would go as far to say that this could be Kar-Wai's was aesthetically accomplished film (with perhaps "In the Mood" neck-in-neck).

This film differs from the more romanticized or fantastic elements of Chungking, Fallen Angels or In the Mood. This is a very real story and while Kar-Wai's universal theme of love plays a huge part it does not transmute the world into a world through the looking glass.

It is also worth mention that cultural difference plays little if any role in this film. While Leung is seen interacting with Asian tourists neither he nor his lover seem alienated while in Argentina. You feel the same about the environment as you do when you see the urban world of Hong Kong. Perhaps this is Kar-Wai proving that one's perception is far more important that one's location.

Overall this is an incredible film bursting at the seems with originality, humor, emotion and a flair that imbues all of this Hong Kong auteur's prolific and consistent body of work.

This is a tie for my favorite WKW film--In the Mood for Love is the other one. Nothing needs to be added to anyone's critique or review of the movie per se. It is emotionally painful to watch, almost unbearably so. But, when that is coupled with WKW's script-less approach, it means that the film is probably not right for everyone.

But I'd just like to add that the DVD edition has an incredible 1-hour-long "making of" featurette. It also is filmed in WKW style and utterly floored me. Here, you can see other relationships WKW tested out on this freeform screenplay, including a straight relationship between Tony Leung and a female character that didn't make the cut, and also some interviews with one Chinese living in Argentina who decided to stay abroad there. It really is an insider view on how deep WKW digs looking for that "elusive something" that has become his hallmark. I guarantee you will never see a more revealing "making of" anywhere!

Ona personal note, an extended family member of mine died from AIDS while living abroad about one week before I saw this. So obviously, it does hold some personal associations for me. After finishing it, I couldn't watch it again for about 3 years afterwards due to the depth of some of the emotions it brings up. What WKW does say about alienation and relationships in this film rings completely true, probably more so than in any of his other films. On the other hand, because of the very fact that it is not a film "about" homosexuality, his frank, matter-of-fact approach to the relationship helped me to relate to certain aspects of my relative's life and death on very simple, human terms.

Something of an obvious precursor to the subsequent masterpiece In the Mood for Love (2000); Happy Together (1997) is a tragic love story by way of recollection. If you're at all familiar with the work of director Wong Kar-Wai - from his breakthrough film Days of Being Wild (1991), to his more recent masterwork, the unsung 2046 (2004) - then you'll be accustomed to his personal approach to cinema; from that continually drifting sense of quiet melancholy and disconnected ennui - all captured by a roving camera that conspires to alienate characters from one another by intrusive shot composition and naturalist production design - and a beguiling approach to the concept of time continually abstracted in order to create drama from moments of fond reminisce. Once again, the feeling expressed in Happy Together is that of loneliness and despair, as characters drift spectre-like through desolate cities attempting to cling to moments and memories as if gasping for their final breath; and all the while distorted by a frequently hypnotic approach to music, structure, pace and cinematography.

If the film lacks the sophistication of the aforementioned In the Mood for Love, it is only because the process of refinement has replaced the edginess and earthiness of this film, with a studied, technical grandeur and ornate beauty that is really quite transcendent. Nonetheless, the style and tone of Happy Together fits the mood of the film perfectly; capturing the feckless uncertainly of the character's lives - both together and apart - and concurrently suggesting the idea of memory and repetition that plays an important role in the way the narrative ultimately plays out. The first viewing might very well be confusing, with scenes occurring that seem to simultaneously represent both the past and the present, and with information presented in a series of incredibly quick cuts, disconnected voice-over and a continually jarring cross-cutting back and forth between lurid colour and an oddly tinted monochrome, which seems to work on an emotional level, as opposed to any kind of narrative convention.

That said, the grittiness of the film suggests an uncompromising and starkly unconventional beauty in keeping with the film's central relationship; with the violent and volatile shifts in stock capturing the same unpredictable impulses and urges of the central characters as they fight, break-up, reconcile and drift apart against a rolling backdrop of exotic and atmospheric locations. The use of Buenos Aires as the central setting adds texture to the film, and the vibrant way in which the director captures the strange, mysterious and nocturnal atmosphere of the city is evocative to say the least. Here, the rhythm of the film becomes tuned to that of the Argentine tango that swirls through the bar where the characters rediscover one another; with the staccato rhythms of the movement underscored by the sad reflections of the accordion music and the stampeding percussion of feet against floors, combined with continual hints of tortured romanticism - touching without feeling, sensing without sensuality, etc - that are so central to these characters and the odd situation they find themselves in.

The location also ties in with the filmmaker's fondness for the work of author Manuel Puig; whose style of writing has some influence on the tone and languid energy of the film in question, with Wong and his crew - and in particular cinematographer Christopher Doyle - expressing certain unspoken facets of this relationship through framing, movement, colour and rhythm. The fact that the film focuses on a homosexual relationship is ultimately secondary. As is often the case with Wong Kar-Wai, the film is about that urge and desire to belong to something - or someone - and the pursuit of an unrequited love that is powerful enough to drive you to the end of the world. We see these themes repeated again and again, from the inter-linked meta-romance of Days of Being Wild, In the Mood for Love and 2046, to the brilliance of Chungking Express (1994). Through the jarring nature of the relationship between the reckless and subtly abusive Ho Po-Wing and the more sensitive and brooding Lai Yiu-fai, Wong is able to express a series of thoughts and ruminations of the notions of love in a way that is intelligent, but always easy to identify with, regardless of gender or sexuality.

Later in the film, the director expresses slightly more profound feelings through the friendship of Lai Yiu-fai and the young runaway Chang. Here, we see a mutual respect and unspoken love that goes beyond sex and sexuality; creating a pure statement on the notion of love and the desire to belong to someone or something, within a certain time or place. A love so great that the person would be willing to carry your own sadness to the end of the world, to lessen the burdens of life and open the door to a new beginning free of difficulties and strife. There are deeper themes expressed throughout - too many to go into in this review - nonetheless, the film is understated and brimming with emotion; in keeping with the director's more iconic or well-regarded films, such as the ones aforementioned, and continuing a number of important themes and motifs that are both thought-provoking and affecting. The film also benefits from the fine performances of the three lead actors, stunning locations, cinematography, great atmosphere, mood and spirit; and an overall approach to cinema that is poetic, to say the least.

This was the closing film at last year's Singapore International Film Festival. It was actually banned but was allowed this one and only film screening in Singapore. Needless to say, the cinema was full to the brim and Christopher Doyle and Wong Kar Wai were there to introduce the film as well as parried any questions by the audience after the show.

What can I say? Vintage War Kar Wai, I suppose. Chris Doyle's cinematography was beautiful and enchanting; his birdeye's shot of the waterfall is firmly engraved in my mind. Tony Leung performance was touching and extremely poignant; most notably when he cried silently into the tape recorder, releasing all his personal frustrations, angst, sense of betrayal, hopelessness and loss in those few minutes.

It's not so much a gay film as a show about relationships. The two main protagonists could be two men, one woman and one man or even two women and the show would just be as poignant - the flighty, flirtatious and capricious lover vs the loyal, stable, long suffering and tolerant partnerl. However, seeing it being played out between two male leads was somewhat refreshing. Still, one can't help but wonder if Maggie Cheung, being one of Wong's muse, took one of the roles, what additional depth she might bring to this project?!

Wong Kar-Wai has already established himself as one of the most talented filmmakers working in Hong Kong cinema, and, indeed, the world. In his latest film, Happy Together, he recounts the story of two gay lovers, played brilliantly by Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung. As usual, the storyline in the film is rather sparse, which does nothing to detract from the final product. The beauty of Happy Together lies in Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle's unsurpassed ability to simulate a specific mood through film. In Happy Together, the filmmakers continue their trademark visual style, consisting heavily on strobe, slow-motion, wide-angle lenses, and jump-cuts. For the first time in Wong Kar-Wai's career, he mixes black and white with color film, creating a complex web of flashbacks. The color, especially, seems to almost jump out from the screen. The music, taken from tango album 'The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night', by Astor Piazzola, beautifully excentuates the lingering feelings for a lover gone. Happy Together marks another point in Wong Kar-Wai's maturity as a director. Each one of his films surpasses those previous to it.

This has been on my watchlist for years now. So glad I watched it today. Today. Because there is so much disfunction in our relationships that it can be so overwhelming. These relationships can be life's tools for becoming stronger and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung's character Fai shows you how you do that...move past the disfunction. Leslie Cheung's antagonist invokes sympathy even as he pushes Fai to the brink. Loved him in "Farewell My Concubine" as well.

An overall wonderful film that is relevant no matter the decade.

A poignant portrait of a relationship between two men uprooted from their home country, Happy Together explores the ups and downs, the pros and cons of commitment, as the lead characters careen and collide against each other with their discordant personalities acted out wonderfully.

Happy Together is a deeply dark tortuous movie written and directed by Wong Kar-wai that was mostly filmed on location in Argentina during 1995 and 96. Kar-wai wrote and re-wrote it many times and re-conceived various parts of the story repeatedly during the shooting of the movie, straining both patience and health of both cast and crew. It proved to be a very long and troublesome film to produce, partly due to the subject matter and party the lack of financial backing. Moreover, it has been said they even ran out of good film stock during some stages of the production, yet the result is stylish, provocative and visually dramatic.

It may not have been a mega box office smash hit, yet it remains an intensely passionate cinematic gem which scored no less than seventeen award nominations, winning best director for Kar-wai at the 1997 Cannes Festival, best cinematography for Christopher Doyle during the 1997 Golden Horse Awards and best actor for Tony Leung Chiu-wai at the Hong Kong Film Awards also in 97. Critics the world over seemed mostly enthralled by it, especially the symbolic, ultra gritty innovative cinematography and impressively free and stylistic directorial approach.

This is no walk in the park type of movie, nor is it glitz glamour and drag queens aplenty, it is a hard-hitting gritty passionate tale of evolving love and internal courage to break free from a cycle of devastation and destruction toward a more hopeful tomorrow. A movie metaphor for anyone living in a destructive relationship if ever there was one, although it is much more than just a metaphor it is a damn near dramatic instruction manual. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO

Happy Together (Chinese: Chun gwong cha sit) (1997)

Doyle's camera, Blur, slow down, upside down, Cut, pan, tilt, track, zoom Cinematography dream. Artful shots and scenes, Magic with Wong's direction. Two lovelorn lost souls Wandering Argentina, Not much else for plot, Still manages to take us On hypnotic ride. Like the waterfall they seek From the lamp they bought, This ode to loneliness shows Downfall of their love, From the boldly sexual start To the truthful end. Title's complete opposite, As Lai Yiu-fai says, "Lonely people... all the same." Sorrowful Apart. Despite aesthetic merits, Failed to capture me. Never really cared for them, Lacked necessary Character development, Not enough substance, Aside from a few key scenes, Ideally watched in background.

Choka (long poem) is an epic storytelling form of poetry from the Waka period, an unrhymed poem with the 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7...7 syllable format (any odd number line length with alternating five and seven syllable lines that ends with an extra seven syllable line). #Choka #PoemReview

Watching Happy Together is an emotional experience. If you've ever gotten your heart trampled on, look at the screen and you will find yourself staring at a mirror. This is your story. And the wonderful thing about this movie is, it's not just a good story. It's a visual wonderland, a super-stellar extravaganza of only two superstars (they're all you need)and, maybe by accident, a compassionate statement on homosexuality.

Problems, hurts, and feelings are universal and unconfined by sexual preferences and demography. If you've ever felt alone, I hope you watch this movie and find yourself in good company.

There are many Internet articles on Happy Together.

A beautiful story about a destructive relationship.

Great cinematography, each shot is incredibly beautiful and incarnates emotion.

The movie gets really interesting towards the last 40 mins in my opinion.

A film without meaningful action about two homosexuals who have a messy relationship. They quarrel, make peace, and in the meantime, absolutely nothing happens. A very boring movie for me personally. A strange direction of directing, unusual scenes, is not a film for everyone, including me.