Chun gwong cha sit / Happy Together (1997) – 2/5

Let’s just try it again

„Chun gwong cha sit“ or „Happy Together“ is a co-production between Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea and if you think that is already a lot, wait till you hear that there are even four languages spoken in this not too long movie that runs for under 100 minutes. Admittedly, also not super short, but the writer and director here is Kar-Wai Wong and he is not a man who is known for films with gigantic running times and that is something that is different with him compared to other Asian filmmakers, especially these days, but then again nowadays films are often longer anyway compared to a few decades ago. This one is from 1997, so same year like Titanic, and this means it has its 25th anniversary this year. I don’t think this was the key reason why it was shown here, but just many (older) Asian movies in general have made it to the big screen again in recent months and I am curious to check them out, even if the outcome does not always win me over and this is also the case with this film here. I wish I could say otherwise, but in general Kar-Wai Wong did not impress me too much with the films I have seen from him so far (with one or two exceptions maybe) and this is probably one of his five most famous films too. As I said earlier, he is not just the director, but also the writer and this is also always true for him pretty much. The base material, however, stems from Argentine filmmaker Manuel Puig, who died way too early and even if he is probably not known to really many outside South America, he has still enjoyed a very solid career and quite a few of his works got turned into films and there is even a relatively short documentary about him out there. He was also the one in charge of the base material for Kiss of the Spider Women, the film that won William Hurt the Oscar. But back to this one here now: Unfortunately, I cannot really say too much about the cast in here, not even about the two lead actors. I see Leslie Cheung died from suicide a long time ago already, which is quite sad, while Tony Chiu-Wai Leung has enjoyed an utterly successful life and career until this point with some great credits to his name. Good for him. The duo is featured in pretty much every scene of the movie and when they are not together, they are on the phone with each other instead. That says it all.

In-between, you even forget that the film is not set in Asia, but in Argentina, which is of course fitting too if you look at who wrote the novel this is based on. But you do not see a lot of Argentina in terms of people, sights or just what defines this mesmerizing country. The one exception is a spectacular waterfall that can be seen relatively early in the movie and also towards the end. There we have one of the two characters stand there in admiration of the waterfall and say that his initial idea was to watch the waterfall with his loved one. This refers of course to the other central character from this film, so yes this is a gay-themed movie, but not really feel-good for the most part. The very ending then is also not the two together again, so not a happy ending, but maybe it is best for them. Still, the writer did not want to take the fully unhappy route here apparently and we find out from the words of one character that he knows where to find the other, so there is still hope for a romance comeback. Or I should maybe say „hope“ because honestly the way the two were behaving towards each other for the entire film did not make me think they should be an item. They were arguing, complaining, even playing mind games and there were almost no moments when I felt that they were really caring for one another. One minor exception was perhaps when one of the two was injured and the other feeds him, but this was maybe also only because he felt obliged to and not because he deeply cared for the other. In any case, nothing from the film had me really think that he did. So it also did not make an impact on me when we see one character terribly sad and crying a lot towards the end that the relationship is over. Over for the moment at least because this was a bit of a running gag, but not a funny one, that they always get back together somehow and one character asks the other if they want to try it again. The one scene where I really saw harmony and affection there was when they were dancing, but even this came with initial struggles and one of them simply not being in the mood (no pun intended) anymore to deal with the other not being able to manage the steps right away.

Now, let us look at the film as a whole: If you have some stuff from Kar-Wai Wong, then you know that he almost always finds a way to get in restaurants or gastronomy in his movies and if the films are not set there at the key of the story, then at least he includes places like these during one or several scenes. This is also no exception here, especially if you look at the profession(s) the characters have. I am not really sure why the filmmaker is so dedicated to get this in for every film he makes. Here of course it could have had to do with the base material as well that it was simply part of the book. I cannot elaborate on that in detail because I did not read it. Also cannot elaborate on parallels and differences as a consequence there. But this is a movie review anyway, so it should be all good. Songs from the western hemisphere are also something you hear pretty often in the man’s movies and maybe you guessed it already from the title which song is featured this time. It is definitely not unexpected and a fairly famous and popular number, even this many years after its original release. What you hear this time, however, is not the original „Happy Together“ from The Turtles, but a cover version by Danny Chung apparently, which is a bit surprising because he was a truly prolific composer for Asian films, but a singer I am not sure. Anyway, it is also not the only time that KWW uses the song for the closing credits. Of course, don’t get me wrong with what I wrote before this, he also often includes Asian music in his films, but overall more music and especially famous songs from the western hemisphere than most Asian filmmakers.

As for the film’s style, it can be noted that early sequences of the film are in black-and-white and this is something I almost always appreciate and like to watch, especially in modern movies, but here it did not turn the film into a better watch either unfortunately. It just could not win me over. Too much style over substance, which often seems to be the case with Kar-Wai Wong. The scenes and moments when I considered giving the outcome a positive recommendation were not often enough. Still I will state them. There was this early scene when one of the two (ab)uses his injury to be closer to the other and make sure it stays that way. That was kinda cute. Aside from that, there was only one scene from the many scenes inside the apartment that I liked. It was around the time when they also had the passport argument I think. The waterfall scene towards the end was not half as good and breathtaking as I would have liked it to be. What I liked more was a scene when they are not together (exception) when we see one character cry into a recorder after a friend asks him to record something. However, for every scene that I liked there were at least two that I disliked or that did nothing for me, like also for example when after the two had kinda ended their relationship, one character goes to an adult film theater and engages in sexual activity with a random stranger. I guess this was to show us that the characters are also just humans and have flaws and maybe he missed the affection from his man and that is why he did it, but still it left me unimpressed. Then we have inclusions that could have been completely left out for all I care(d). There I would count the football stadium sequence. I mean almost everybody knows that Argentina is really crazy about football, but it added absolutely nothing story-wise, also not in the sense that this full stadium served as contrast to loneliness or so. I am not sure why it was even shown, maybe because it was in the book. As I said, I am not sure there.

I wrote early on that this film is not long at all, but if I mention everything I would have been okay with if it had gotten left out, then it would have been maybe an 80-minute movie or so. It was also not really a funny film, also in terms of situational comedy for me. Maybe one very brief slightly funny moment was when we hear a character say that one of the protagonists should hook him up with an Asian girl that has big breasts. I cannot think of more and that says it all. I mean Kar-Wai Wong is not known for his comedic approach, but there is more like that in other films he made. Also more lightness as this one here is a pretty depressing film from beginning to end, which is not a negative criticism, but it makes it even more difficult to appreciate when you really do not care for the main characters at all and do not really want them to sort out their difficulties. There I can mention again the quote from one of the two about how he always suggests after an argument that they should try it again. Maybe listening to a specific Taylor Swift song and following the advice about never ever getting back together would be the better solution for everybody involved and the „try again“ is something I would give as an advice to the filmmaker here in order to come up with a film that has better quality. I am surprised it has such a high rating on imdb as I did not see much quality and I doubt this would not change on rewatch. Doubtful I will ever watch this movie again, but never say never I guess. For now I give it a thumbs-down and negative recommendation as a whole. I suggest you skip the watch here or at least if you want to get into Kar-Wai Wong, then this film should not be among the first films to check out from him. Go for something else instead.