春光乍洩
Drama
Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, Spanish, English, Mandarin
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Wong Kar-wai
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Chang Chen
Distributor: Block 2 Distribution, Filmasia Presents
After a series of eclectic portraits of contemporary Hong Kong that blended coolness and melancholy, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai shot his famous postmodern queer romance, Happy Together. Ahead of him lay one of his most critically lauded cinematic works, the delicate melodrama about unrequited love, In the Mood for Love. Happy Together, also a highlight of his filmography, forms a bridge between these two styles. Wong Kar-wai left Hong Kong and largely set his portrait of the turbulent love affair between two young men in Argentina, where the Hong Kong couple first set off on a journey together but eventually ended up staying due to a lack of money. The brilliant performances of Hong Kong stars Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung lie at the heart of Wong’s typically loose film form, which relies more on impressions than a rationally constructed narrative. The main plot dissolves into subplots and the story unfolds through impulsive twists and turns, which are dictated by the central couple’s regular, stormy breakups and reconciliations. As in his previous films, Wong is fascinated by the dynamics of love and loneliness, as well as the transience and passage of time. This is reflected in his stylistic peculiarities, such as manipulating the speed of the recording and composing the narrative from different variations on the same situation. These techniques might appear to be a mere mannerism at first, but they are in fact one of the most fundamental ways in which the film communicates with the audience. Wong’s win at Cannes for Best Director, for Happy Together, solidified his reputation as a globally renowned art-house filmmaker. Its theme is what makes it considered one of the key works of the so-called new queer cinema, a movement within independent and art-house film at the time focused on representing queerness.
