Happy Together (Chun gwong cha sit) (1997)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Garishly beautiful but frustratingly same-y WKW chamber piece. Happy Together has hardly a whisper of plot and I found myself drifting. Felt like a two hour Suntory ad. Music and waterfall sequence were cool.

• Nicki M

  
  Beautifully filmed, cast are great, but painfully, painfully slow. Also NOT a romantic film, as the title would have you believe!

• Rubia Carolina .

  
  After have watched "Chungking Express" and "2046", I could understand the disappointment of Kar Wai Wong´s fans with "My Blueberry Nights". It´s nice and I enjoyed it myself, but now, having watched "Hapy Together", I can ask it too: what… More
  After have watched "Chungking Express" and "2046", I could understand the disappointment of Kar Wai Wong´s fans with "My Blueberry Nights". It´s nice and I enjoyed it myself, but now, having watched "Hapy Together", I can ask it too: what happened? Maybe it was the west wind, who knows? or the too-famous-actors, but it just doesn´t have the depth, tragedy and beauty of these other movies. "Happy Together" (don´t get tricked by the title) is an authentic Wai Wong love story with its ups and downs. Buenos Aires was the perfect choice to place the relationship of the two chinese men lovers as desperate and sensual as el tango Argentino. Homosexuality is not the main point and it is, actually, never judged. Everything is very natural and beautiful, quite different from Brokeback Mountain, for example. The characters are real, interesting, and the movie has that known Wai Wong stunned "atmosphere" with hot colours and decadent places. <br> <br>

• Elvira B

  
  No matter how terribly grounded you are, there is always Wong Kar Wai to take you flying away. He always succeeds at marrying realistic human drama with otherworldly beauty and atmosphere. The content is often raw, whereas the form is always stunningly beautiful. He is also a… More
  No matter how terribly grounded you are, there is always Wong Kar Wai to take you flying away. He always succeeds at marrying realistic human drama with otherworldly beauty and atmosphere. The content is often raw, whereas the form is always stunningly beautiful. He is also a fantastic maker of love stories, usually stories of unfulfilled expectations. He never gives his characters happy endings, he's more interested in unfolding the ups and downs of relationships enveloped in ethereal settings. Happy Together is no exception to the rule; once more, and to my absolute joy, Kar Wai works his magic and makes me glad that he ever made this film. Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung play two lovers from Hong Kong who travel to Argentina to begin a new life. However, theirs is a very odd and unhealthy relationship, equal parts obessessive and indifferent according to their moods. Being in Buenos Aires, where they know only each other, makes them both strive to become independent, in an effort to free from theie mutual obssession, but also draws them nearer to each other, since they are, at the end of the day, all they have. The result is a painful dance of violence and tenderness. Theirs is the epithome of a love/hate relationship; Jealousy, rage, lust, sweetness, coming and going with equal intensity. All while they are in a foreign country and they represent everything "familiar" to each other. Even in this adverse environment, both characters have to let go. Their moments together become devastating more often than they are pleasant, to the point of leading them both to misery. All this happens in a very Wong Kar Wai fashion, in a Universe in which time and even space are uncertain and even the grittiest alleys, dirtiest and flea-infested apartments have an innate beauty that jumps to the eye. The director and Christopher Doyle create some of the most inspiring images I've ever seen. Their eyes just seem to elevate the story, as in all of their collaborations. I also loved how Kar Wai seemed to understand and profit from the spirit of Buenos Aires; the melancholic demeanor of the background characters, the buildings, the color, the light and the water. And, above all, the music. Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung are amazing! Every time I see him perform I become more convinced of Leung's versatility. He becomes Fai, making him sympathetic enough but still careless, unbalanced and aggressive. By himself he is not very appealing at all, but his circumstances, and how Kar Wai chooses to approach him ,bring out his substance. Leslie Cheung is also very good as Fai's reckless lover. I wouldn't say this is my favorite Wong Kar Wai film, but it's definitely a wonderful film and probably one of the director's most accessible works (only 97 minutes long). I barely noticed the passing of time, anyways, because the images and the performances are so absorbing. The scenes at the tango bar... I just wished they would last much longer! And, of course, I suppose that, as with any film, Happy Together can mean many things to many different people. To me, it was immediately about accepting the end of any relationship and walking away from what is bad for you, even if you don't want to. But there is probably much more to it. Or you can just stare at the wonderful colors and listen to the tangos.

• Arash X

  
  Raw & intense, Filled with touching & memorable scenes and ofcourse Doyle's beautiful images

• Candy R

  
  Great cast. Two lovers arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and go on a roadtrip.

• Sarah G

  
  At last. A true portrayal of a homo-sexual relationship which felt realistic and emotional. Great performances and a brilliant soundtrack The relationship between the two leads is obviously emotional and constantly on the rocks. To me, this is how Hollywood should portrayal this,… More
  At last. A true portrayal of a homo-sexual relationship which felt realistic and emotional. Great performances and a brilliant soundtrack The relationship between the two leads is obviously emotional and constantly on the rocks. To me, this is how Hollywood should portrayal this, not making it soo bloody obvious that we are seeing a " gay couple" but a normal couple who seem to love one another. That is why I felt so dissapointed with Brockback Mountain Some great performances from Tony Leung and Leslie Leung backed up with some fine cinematography and a brilliant soundtrack. This all added to the mood within the film and created this strong emotion which I saw with every character Certainly there are elements of Chunking which I noticed, plus a lot of Wai's trademarks within the movie. Overall a brilliant film showing a realistic portryal of a homo-sexual couple which will make you feel for the more, not just a " gay couple" but a couple with a strong bond between them

• Luke B

  
  After the amazingness of 'Chungking Express' and 'Fallen Angels' Wong Kar Wai takes it down a notch. There isn't much of a plot but this allows to fully explore his two protagonists and their relationship with each other. The film tends to drag on and repeat… More
  After the amazingness of 'Chungking Express' and 'Fallen Angels' Wong Kar Wai takes it down a notch. There isn't much of a plot but this allows to fully explore his two protagonists and their relationship with each other. The film tends to drag on and repeat itself. The light drenched cinematography works well, as does the metaphorical claustrophobic setting of the apartment, but the film misses Wai's use of stirring music and influential editing.

• Curt C

  
  MagicButterfly said this was bone-crushingly depressing, but we later agreed that it was merely soul-crushingly depressing. Hey, look, everyone is incredibly lonely and doesn't really get what they want. In Chinese cinema? Impossible! This took me an incredibly long time to… More
  MagicButterfly said this was bone-crushingly depressing, but we later agreed that it was merely soul-crushingly depressing. Hey, look, everyone is incredibly lonely and doesn't really get what they want. In Chinese cinema? Impossible! This took me an incredibly long time to rate. I was aware of a lot of the symbolism but think I missed the significance of most of it. Oh well.

• Laurence C

  
  A gorgeously photographed but emotionally hurtful experience, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together hits all the possibles notes on a flailing relationship, whether it be same-sex or not. Even if the chinese filmmaker spares us no bitter rumpuses as the two lovers slowly discover that… More
  A gorgeously photographed but emotionally hurtful experience, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together hits all the possibles notes on a flailing relationship, whether it be same-sex or not. Even if the chinese filmmaker spares us no bitter rumpuses as the two lovers slowly discover that love means being able to let go of one another when it becomes destructive, this is definitely one film you'll want to watch more than once. Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung admirably commit to their characters, faring extremely well within the screenplay's small but gently revelatory moments. The film's universal applicability just makes it more essential, so you get the point : see this one.

• Leo L

  
  An absolute favorite.

• Anthony V

  
  There is a reason this won at Cannes. A universal statement of the elusive nature of love.

• Patrick D

  
  It's Wong Kar-Wai, and yes, compared to his other films I would catergorize this film as more wank-fest but that doesn't mean it was bad. This guy is a fantastic director and if for nothing else you need to see this film for it's direction AND cinemtography,… More
  It's Wong Kar-Wai, and yes, compared to his other films I would catergorize this film as more wank-fest but that doesn't mean it was bad. This guy is a fantastic director and if for nothing else you need to see this film for it's direction AND cinemtography, Christopher Doyle really makes the shots beautiful. The story too, although not a steady narrative, is engrossing and holds your attention. Like his two previous films there are three main characters and one has considerably less screen time then the others. Given this I though in the last 15 minutes he was gonna have an ending like Fallen Angels. Luckily he didn't. These films always make me feel so wistful, and all though there's a lack of a cute female protagonist, Tony Leung is pleasurable to watch, there's something about how he smokes a cigarette. Although not his best definetly shows a growth, even if there's threat of going the way of the Lynch.

• Krystle C

  
  Poignant, and Tony Leung is wonderful, but you can't help being irritated a lot of the time at how stuck they are.

Read all 14 featured audience ratings