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Happy Together (15)

Photo of two men embracing from Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together

Two lovers drift apart when they travel from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires in this beautifully shot romance from Wong Kar-Wai.

The title of Trajal Harrell’s performance piece In the Mood for Frankie (2016) makes explicit his admiration for Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, one of several inspirations he drew on for the work.

Here we screen not In the Mood for Love, but his earlier Happy Together, a film steeped in the melancholic tango music of Astor Piazzolla, and with its own famous dance scenes.

Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yui-Fai (Tony Leung) are lovers from Hong Kong who travel to Buenos Aires to start over. When the relationship buckles with their constant bickering, they split and are set adrift in the city: Lai finds work as a doorman at a tango club, Ho starts turning tricks.

A touching story of partings, reunions and love on the brink of dissolution, Happy Together is also – like all Wong Kar-Wai films – memorably gorgeous to look at.

Hong Kong/Japan/South Korea 1997 Dir Wong Kar-wai 97 min
35mm presentation

 

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