HAPPY TOGETHER
Wong Kar-Wai's HAPPY TOGETHER is a feast for the eyes and sets a tone and style hardly ever found in American films. Largely influenced by French New Wave cinematic techniques, Wong found audiences in art house circles with stylish early works like DAYS OF BEING WILD and CHUNGKING EXPRESS. With HAPPY TOGETHER all of his stylistic elements are in full bloom as this despairingly realistic portrait of an incredibly co-dependant gay couple drifing back and fourth in each other's lives while traveling thorugh South America plays out in a very kinetic way. Astonishingly realistic performances here byTonyLeung and a very melancholy Leslie Chueng who seems to be channeling much of his real-life angst in this film which will be remembered as one of his finest hours! For an incredibly vivid feeling of place and time, this obstensibly "gay themed" film can be enjoyed on a cathartic level by anyone who has suffered the joys and pains of unbalanced love and a sense yearing for something more...