HAPPY TOGETHER By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Kino International/Golden Harvest Director: Wong Kar-wai Writer: Wong Kar-wai Cast: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Chang Chen Immersion in another culture can work differently for different people. For some, the experience is broadening, for others constricting. For some, the ordeals are invigorating, for others, enervating. Heinrich Herrar, Brad Pitt's character in "Seven Years in Tibet," changed from a narcissistic Nazi to a Buddhist mensch with a deep regard for a culture of nonviolence during his trip from Austria to Lhasa. But Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung), at best have mixed reactions from their expatriate life in Argentina. At worst, they grow so bored and lonely that they become desperate for meaning. "Happy Together," a somewhat ironic title, deals loosely with an off-on relationship of Lai and Ho, a homosexual pair from Hong Kong living in Argentina. The picture bears the signature of its independent director, Wong Kar-Wai, whose "Chungking Express" deals as well with lovesickness, obsession, and the peccadilloes of relationships in a modern world. Like that 1994 film, "Happy Together" is light and offbeat with much activity centered on restaurants, though instead of dividing his film into two tangentially related stories, director Wong this time simply brings in a third character midway into the tale. The homosexual element, which caused the films to be banned in some Far Eastern states, is soft-pedaled, though a sizzling and comic scene which opens the movie announces the relationship of its principals in no uncertain terms. The $4.2 million release has no plot to speak of but is instead an existential, even postmodern take on the difficulties which people have in sustaining a connection. Lai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Ho (Leslie Cheung), two travelers from Hong Kong, are on their way to the mystical Iguazu Falls on the Argentine-Brazilian border, a symbol of renewal much as the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona are a drawing point for New Age folks in the States. Symbolically, they get lost on the way, ultimately leading a major argument and their going separate ways. Though Ho comes across at first as a confident, frivolous fellow, he surfaces as the one who is hurt more by the detachment than the serious Lai. Lai takes a dull job as a doorman at a tango bar while Ho hires himself out as a hustler. Spending a good deal of time trying to patch up the bond, Ho is finally welcomed back by Lai when he appears at Lai's door after having been beaten up by a client. Strangely enough, though, there is no sex in the new affiliation, though Lai has become fonder of Ho than ever before, even hiding his passport to make sure he does not go home. Midway, director Wong introduces Chang, who works in a kitchen with Lai. Though Chang is straight and naive, the two become fast friends, but when Chang leaves for his home in Taipei, Lai faces his own desire to leave the Spanish culture for his native Hong Kong. In the film's seminal shot, cinematographer Christopher Doyle sums up the experience of living as an expatriate by showing Hong Kong as an upside-down city in the eyes of the travelers who are, in effect, on the opposite side of the world. This visual says reams about the effect of living in a culture not ones own and goes a way toward explaining why immigrants everywhere, however prosperous, often talk with longing of their "country." Given the near-invisibility of plot, what gives the film its staying power is Mr. Doyle's startling photography . Using high-contrast film and shifting regularly from black-and-white to color, Doyle tries his darndest to keep us involved even when the circular activity threatens to exhaust the audience. There's a terrific closing sequence as Lai rides Taipei's newly- built rapid transit, contrasting effectively with the remoteness he feels when he visits "the end of the world" in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego. The movie will appeal to those who can accept that its kicks come from the optics rather than the narrative, but it likely to be off-putting to a constituency who may wander into it thinking that "Happy Together" is a gay film and to straights who may wonder what the fuss is about. Not Rated. Running Time: 93 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten
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