Happy Together (Wong Kar Wai)

[pro-bassoonist]

Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together (1997) has been set to be released on June 8th. Winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. Courtesy of Kino Video.


Happy Together


EyeforFilm:

Rules? What they? Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels) makes his own. And then ignores them.

Filmed partially in black-and-white, with three separate, occasional narrative voices, the plot is dysfunctional. It doesn't go anywhere. Depends on what you mean by "any". Ho (Leslie Cheung) and Lai (Tony Leung) are Hong Kong tourists on the cheap in Argentina. They are also lovers, who break up the same time as their car. Lai finds work as doorman at a tango bar in Buenos Aires. Ho becomes a prostitute.

After Ho is seriously hurt in an assault, Lai takes him into his tiny one-room apartment. As he recovers, Ho attempts to seduce Lai back into a physical relationship. Lai won't have it. They bicker and fight. Lai moves jobs, ending up as a dishwasher in a restaurant, where he meets Chang (Chang Chen), a young Taiwanese, whose gentle manner attracts him. Ho, meanwhile, bored and broke, goes back onto the streets. Lai doesn't know this for certain, but the signs are there and it's enough to create further ructions.

Kar Wai avoids cultish gay stereotyping. No one mentions AIDS. Sentimentality is thrown off the train, although self-pity has one private moment when tears do fall. This is cutting edge loneliness, the darkness at the edge of despair.

Technically the film rides the wild highway. Kar-Wai races his camera like a Yamaha, using hand-held to drive the eye of the audience into the soul of pain. The title is ironic, of course. Lai is depressive and Ho incapable of constancy. Both are doomed to lives of wandering hope, fed on cigarettes, take-aways and quart bottle of liquor.

Pro-B

[Russell_L]

Great film. Thanks for the info, Svet!

[DangerousG]

YES! I just preordered it right now.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Schonfelder]

Such great news. I think this one has the best photography in WKWs career.

[zombeaner]

Great news! I'm on it!

[Sagacious Koreo]

Man, I still can't find Fallen Angels anywhere.

Looks like I'm going to have to order these two online.

[manicsounds]

WTF happened with Kino? They used to release the worst transferred DVDs on the market, and now, they are releasing some of the best DVDs. Good for them of course, and good for us.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

WTF happened with Kino? They used to release the worst transferred DVDs on the market, and now, they are releasing some of the best DVDs. Good for them of course, and good for us.

Blu-rays!

Pro-B

[Schonfelder]

And what about the cover, have they already presented it ?

[pro-bassoonist]

Schonfelder,

I have not seen any temp art yet.

Pro-B

[depp91]

Judging from the recent Fallen Angels BD which includes an HD Trailer for Happy Together (which was obviously compiled from the new HD master of the movie, hence the excellent quality and the new colors) this will be an excellent release!

[Codyblaze]

Guess I'm getting my first-ever Kino in June!

[depp91]

axelmusic.com seem to have it in stock already, I preordered it a month ago and they shipped it yesterday!! so if you order from there, you might get it sooner

[bgmat58]

I am tempted to try it from axelmusic but it sYs preorder on their site so maybe you were just lucky? Anyone else order this from them?

[depp91]

Mabye, I don't know....

kino.com now says that the official release date is June 1! Seems like they also discontinued the 2004 special edition DVD of Happy Together.

[depp91]

My copy arrived today

[cool hand bluke]

I got my copy from axelmusic a few days ago. haven't watched it all yet, just until Tony is working at the tango club. Am very impressed with quality . Saw it on dvd a while back and on my 2m wide screen the blu-ray looks stunning. Some of the black and white photography of the wide open spaces in Argentina are just beautiful. The helicopter shots of the falls gorgeous. Audio is great too. Thanks Kino for releasing this film in such a good standard. And thanks to Wong Kar Wai et al for making it. This is my 6th Wong Kar Wai blu. Roll on In the Mood for Love Get a move on boys!

[Blodiak]

thx for the info!

I received my Fallen Angels blu-ray a couple of weeks ago, I LOVED Chungking Express so I might enjoy this one also..

[charnier]

Is this region-free, like Fallen Angels?

[SolutionbubbleS]

Originally Posted by cool hand bluke

This is my 6th Wong Kar Wai blu. Roll on In the Mood for Love Get a move on boys!

Which are the other ones on BD?