Chun Guang Zha Xie, the Chinese title of this movie seems far from the same as its English title. Chunguang literally means sights and sounds of spring. It also indicates the sweet romance and relationships of people. From this point, Chinese words have more deep connotations and are always full of subtle secrets.
I honestly love this movie. I love everything of it. The first time I saw it, I didn't quite understand it although I always knew that obscure and exquisite plot settling is an outstanding trait of Wong Kar-wai's films. Later, I picked it up again after got enamored with my favorite star Leslie Cheung. Happy together is a 1997 Hong Kong movie directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung, that depicts a turbulent romance between two men. At that time, Hong Kong was at the edge of returning and a lot of Hong Kong people became perplexed and could only see a blurring future. Ho Po-wing(Leslie) and Lai Yiu-fai(Tony), a couple from pre-handover Hong Kong, visit Argentina, hoping to renew their ailing relationship. The two have a pattern of abuse, followed by break-ups and reconciliations.Lai is the more stable and committed of the two, and desires nothing more than a fairly normal life, while Ho has an extremely destructive personality and is not able to commit to a monogamous relationship. He is manipulative and volatile while Lai is taciturn and not good at showing his true feelings. Most people reckon that Lai is more likable a character because he is loyal and persistent to their love. But actually, the love is mutual between them.the love is mutual between them.the love is mutual between them.
I'm not going to concentrate on the arguing of the homosexual touch in this movie because this is not the most important point the creators aimed to convey. The director is brilliant enough to find a distant South-Hemisphere city to put the two lonely men in. In that city, they don't need to bother with the mundane prejudice and they can live their own peaceful life. But after tasted the movie so many times, I'm tortured with the generally growing realization that they just couldn't hide themselves, for the Hong Kong flavor is so ubiquitous and haunting. Love seems feeble in that strange and alien country and the two are always lingering back and forth at the edge of being together or separation. In this way, the English name Happy Together seems like a sarcasm to some extent, because at the end of the story, Lai went back to Hong Kong,leaving Ho all by himself in Buenos Aires.
Most film reviews gave director Wong lavish praise for his innovative cinematography and directorial approach. They remarked that it was a more coherent, heartfelt movie than Wong's previous films without losing the stylism and brashness of his earlier efforts. For me, it is the fine and smooth living details and the fabulous performance of Leslie and Tony that impressed me the most. Those who don't fancy the works by Wong claim that his films are unbearably tedious. In fact, if you do think this movie is sullen and dim, that is because you cannot find the real beauty of it. After beaten and injured, Ho lives under the attentive care of Lai and relies on him for nearly everything. Lai feels happy with him accompanied but never show it apparently. Ho is capricious and naughty just like a child, always being the lethal poison Lai can never resist.I feel totally shocked and moved that the two actors should show the whispering emotion between two men so accurately and make it clear that they are just a common couple and are undergoing the most common healer-skelters as every straight couple.
Thirteen years have passed by. Leslie has gone since April.1, 2003. Tony Leung married Carina Lau eventually in 2009.Everything is so different now. Last year at Tony and Carina's wedding, the ceremony place was resounding with the theme music “Happy Together”. I burst into tears on hearing it and couldn't help mourning for the vicissitudes of the time. My beloved Leslie ended his life with a jump from the high building in the downtown of Hong Kong city, leaving us endless agony and memories . One of Leslie's fans asked Tony Leung at the airport, “Lai Yiu-fai, do you still remember Ho Po-wing? Tony was surprised but then gave her a decisive and warm nodding. I hardly know how it feels between these two charming actors. Nevertheless, I guess I already have the answer for myself.
In the movie, Lai eventually drove to the big waterfall by himself, deploring that how he wished there were two people standing down there. Their long-hold promise is never to be realized, just as Leslie was left in the other ice-cold world and endured eternity of solitude. Or maybe, it's not solitude, but the most beautiful tranquility for him.
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