Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A couple travels from Hong Kong to Argentina to revive their relationship but experience turbulence when both men's lives drift in separate directions.
Wong Kar-wai's 'Happy Together' is a landmark of world cinema, featuring Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung in devastatingly raw performances that anchor a deeply felt portrait of a toxic, codependent gay relationship. Christopher Doyle's cinematography is extraordinary — shifting between lush color and stark black-and-white to mirror emotional states, making Buenos Aires feel both alien and achingly intimate. The film's novelty lies in Wong's singular, impressionistic approach to romantic despair, transposing Hong Kong longing onto an Argentine landscape in a way no other film replicates. The plot is deliberately thin and cyclical by design, capturing the repetitive trap of the relationship rather than conventional narrative momentum, which some find frustrating. The ending, while poetic and emotionally resonant, is somewhat elliptical and understated even by Wong's standards, leaving certain emotional threads unresolved in a less satisfying way than his best work.