Happy Together (1997) was the last Wong Kar-Wai movie from the set that I bought a couple of months ago. It had the distinction of winning the Best Director Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Kar-Wai chose Argentina as his location because of his love of soccer, and it the home of the former premier soccer player Diego Maradona. It is the first of his loosely planned films that really come together in the editing room after having gone over budget-this is what happened with his next two films; In The Mood For Love and 2046. I think it is thematically similar to many of his films since it deals with relationships, thwarted love, romance, betrayal and starting over. However, this time it is viewed through the adventures of two gay etbinically Chinese lovers from Hong Kong and Taipei, Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung living in Buenos Aires. Christopher Doyle provides his usual cinematic magic in the city and other locations like Iguazu Falls. But I have to say that Argentina comes off as a little dismal in this film, but perhaps this is what he was looking for as his back drop for this sort of desperate love story.
Pat, it pleases me to see that you're such a fan of Wong Kar-Wai films. I understand that he's working on something called The Lady from Shanghai. Do you think it's possible that he's making a version of the Orson Welles film from the 40's?
Here are my latest picks:
Dirty Filthy Love
Oldboy
3 Iron
The Machinist
Posted by: Ray Lee | July 01, 2005 at 10:29 AM
I heard that Kar-Wai wanted to work with a script again after the trials of the last few films-so it's likely a re-make.
Old Boy rules,and I've heard good things about The Machinist-I missed it whent it was here, I think it was only here for a month or something.
Posted by: MC | July 01, 2005 at 12:34 PM