I’ve been wanting to see a Wong Kar Wai movie for a while now, and I’ve finally got around to enjoy one today! I find several similarities between Happy Together and the elements described to be representative of Cinema du Look. For one, it is a movement characterized by vibrant colors and chaotic montages, according to this introductory video on YouTube. And Happy Together has both. The colors in this Hong Kong movie are highly manipulated to fit the atmosphere of each scene. With this knowledge, I thought I had stumbled upon the wrong movie when the first 20-minute of the film was shot in black and white. I realized later the intentional lack of color is probably to put a divide between past and present in story-telling. It is after the couple agrees to get back together that the film switches back to color. The colors in it are unusually saturated for a movie that seems to be telling such a melancholic love story. Yellow and blue hues are employed profusely in the film. The shaky cameras and fragmented montages may be to represent the unstable nature of the couple’s on-and-off relationship, just like what Daisies (1966) did.
Film critic David Poutain says, “Happy Together is a volatile drama of perpetual stylistic unrest, subjecting its audience to a barrage of vibrant, restless imagery cut into jagged, disorienting fragments.” Another element characterized in Cinema du Look movies is that they often involve young characters who fall repeatedly in love and live on the edges of society. For a lack of better words, these words could be used to describe Lai Yiu Fai and Ho Po-Wing and their lives in Argentina. Throughout the movie, we see them fight and get back together again and again. It doesn't work when almost all their conversations begin with an accusation and end in verbal or physical fights. They aren't leading fantastic lives economically either. Po never seems to make an effort in securing a job for himself, and even the more serious and responsible Lai only manages to land a job as a doorman at the beginning of the movie whose pay is only enough for him to rent a cramped and dreary apartment.
I would characterize the relationship between Lai and Po as volatile and destructive. There are times I question whether there is still love in their relationship, or are they just hanging on to each other out of habit and loneliness. Po acts like a spoiled brat and clearly lacks empathy for Lai at some points in the movie. He only seems to care about feeding himself and smoking cigarettes. I was so mad to see him asking Lai to cook when the latter was sick in bed. As much as I want to see them working it out, I just couldn’t bring myself to actually say it. They are unendingly hostile towards one another, and even their intercourse comes across like some form of violent release. I think that Lai only confiscated Po’s passport because he doesn’t want to be left all alone in Argentina, and it’s only when Po relies on him the most that he feels his existence being validated. That’s probably why he said he was the happiest when Po was sick. It’s heartbreaking to watch as Lai realizes that he’s just as lonely as Po, but the latter will never admit it because of his emotional immaturity.
I think the traditional main character of the movie is Lai Yiu Fai. He’s the one whose story we follow mostly along. For me, at least, I would automatically assume that whoever’s words are used as voice-over for the movie would be the main character here, and that was what happened with Lai. He’s the character the film dwells on more than any others. The camera follows his movements rather than Po’s, and we are informed about his past and his friendship with Chang. But as I continue to watch the movie, I also get voice-overs from Chang as well, a seemingly insignificant restaurant worker who only appears halfway through Lai’s story in Buenos Aires. We are also shown what happened to Ho Po Wing after Lai completely removed himself from his narrative by moving out and flying back to Hong Kong. This may signify the director’s desire to establish the idea that these characters are all worthy of examination, and that the narrative is not complete without any of them.
If we are watching a traditional love story, we would have certain expectations for the endings and narratives. I think firstly we would have expected a happy ending for the couple, which this film subverts completely. This movie focuses instead on how the couple falls out of love instead of the other way around. I guess, in some ways, Lai got his happy ending when he finally lets go of the broken relationship and accumulates enough funds to go back to Hong Kong where he’ll finally feel like he belongs again. He looks happy without Po by his side but with the thought that he might see Chang again. On the train ride right before the movie ends, Lai almost seems hopeful, content, and comfortable in his own skin. Traditional love stories also tend to antagonize the “third” person who is created to challenge the couple’s romance. Happy Together doesn’t. The film doesn’t antagonize Chang's character or use him to sabotage Lai and Po’s relationship, highlighting again that the two are toxic for each other, with or without Chang. In fact, as someone who has very little experience in romance, I find Chang’s character much more relatable and intriguing. He’s a wanderer who just wants to see what the world has in store for him. He doesn’t have goals of any kind. Rather, Chang is happy in his loneliness and the freedom that comes with it, knowing full well that his home in Taipei is somewhere he can always return to once he’s done with his self-exploration.