HAPPY TOGETHER (1997, Blu-ray released June 8, 2010 – MSRP $29.95)
I’m not quite sure how to sum up a film like Happy Together. It’s far too nuanced and complex to accurately outline in a few words. I can, however, tell you with great certainty that Kino‘s new Blu-ray edition of the film is one of the most stunning, film-like experiences I’ve ever had with the format. What a beautiful disc!
There’s a constant plea from characters to “start over” throughout Wong Kar-wai‘s narratively elusive Happy Together. A poignant notion for the expatriate gay lovers in the film, as well as for Hong Kong, the city they both left behind (the story takes place right around the time the city was being handed back to China after more than a century of British colonial rule.) The men find themselves adrift in Buenos Aires – one a doorman at a tango bar, the other a hustler – eternally pushing each other away, only to end up yet again in one anothers’ arms through twist of fate or desperation. Sumptuous, lengthy cutaways to the majestic Iguacu Falls, a place they vowed to one day visit together, remind them while informing us that a greater serenity awaits them if they can find their way to it.
Happy Together, along with many of Wong’s films, has been accused of being a work of style over substance, where nothing much happens, looking wonderful while doing it. I would respectfully disagree. Cast and crew may have arrived in Argentina with only a couple of characters and a rough outline of scenes to film, but in the hands of a masterful director who used to make a living solely on his ability to craft a story, Happy Together grew to become far more than the sum of its parts. It lacks plot, to be sure, but there is narrative to be found – love, loss, the choice to continue to struggle to find oneself while lost in a foreign land or to simply return home and face the past. If you care to look beyond the languid pacing, if the malaise of these melancholic souls doesn’t draw you too deeply into their dream, you’ll discover the tenuous, moving and all too real thread that only an auteur of Wong’s confidence could weave.
As wonderful as the writer/director’s work is though, it’s ultimately Christopher Doyle‘s radiant cinematography that makes your jaw drop. And never more so than in this stunning new Blu-ray presentation from Kino. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that Happy Together was projected in my living room from a pristine, new 35mm print. This transfer is absolutely gorgeous! The colours are so rich, the blacks so deep and the detail so fine that no other home video edition of this film can even come close. This disc is a revelation.
While not as immediately stunning as the visual presentation, the lossless DTS-HD Master 5.1 is also a delight, delivering a crisp, well resolved soundscape that impresses most when music is at the forefront of the mix.
I’m pleased to say that the disc continues to impress in the special features department with almost 2-hours worth of substantial and entertaining extras. The hour-long ‘Buenos Aires Zero Degree: The Making of Happy Together‘ documentary is worthy of praise on its own artistic merit, managing to brilliantly cut together a good amount of interview footage and behind-the-scenes shots with a whole half-a-films-worth of deleted scenes. I also truly enjoyed the 45-minute ‘Wong Kar-Wai at the Museum of the Moving Image‘, where we get the chance to hear the director describe his process in greater depth. The Blu-ray disc is rounded out with trailers and a still gallery.
Highest possible recommendation!
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