Bloodless Coup

Happy Together

I'm likely to continually get the title of this confused with Happy Endings, so if I wind up talking to any of you about the latest foreign film I watched, assume I really mean Happy Together.

And I really might end of up talking to some of you about it because most of it is truly excellent. This is 1997 film is the second work by Wong Kar Wai that I've seen (his 2046 was probably one of 2005's 5 best films - great work), and I decided to rent it after seeing it highly ranked on The Scene Stealer's Top 100 List. If you want comments on the plot, follow the link to his site. I'll just note one thing about it for now. What Wong does with his shots is breath-takingly beautiful. His command of movement and color and angles is as good as any director working today. The film is a sumptuous feast of design - but one done on a perfectly appropriate scale for the story, which is one of the difficulties of a poor, troubled couple who might be in love, but who make a terrible couple. The tumult, the closeness, the passion, the emptiness, the naturalness and the plain old dirt of it all are all captured beautifully. Flashes of color, and the uneven sands beneath our feet practially explode off the screen in moments of disorientation, while at the same time it accurately hits on the stillness and quiet of so many moments (in terms of how they hit us internally).

As was the case with 2046, I think it went on too long and the plot becomes too unfocused at the end. But the first two thirds of the film are well worth your time - hell, the whole thing is I guess, especially if you've suffered through a traditional relationship (you know, one filled with careful lies, limitless longing, an inability to get along, verbal abuse, financial entrapments, petty cruelty ... but love). Those few seconds when a sick Fai makes dinner ... pricelessly real.