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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Happy Together
Kino International
FILM:
MPAA RATING: Unrated
Starring
Leslie Cheung,
Tony Leung Chiu Wai,
and
Chen Chang
Yiu-Fai (Leung) and Po-Wing (Cheung) travel from Hong Kong to Argentina in an attempt to save their relationship.
| GENRE(S): |
Art/Independent
|
Drama
|
Foreign
|
Gay/Lesbian
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Kar Wai Wong
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Kar Wai Wong
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 2, 2003
Theatrical: October 30, 1997
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Hong Kong |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Mandarin / Cantonese / Spanish |
Original title "Cheun Gwong Tsa Sit." Nominated for the Golden Palm and won Best Director at Cannes. Nominated for 8 Hong Kong Film Awards and won for Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Loose, buoyant and bracingly original.
90
Variety
Derek Elley
Maverick director Wong Kar-wai manages to pour old wine into new jars with Happy Together, a fizzy chamber yarn about two gay Hong Kongers in Argentina that's as slim as a bamboo flute but is his most linear and mature work for some time.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
The result is a take-no-prisoners movie from one of Hong Kong's most idiosyncratic, shoot-from-the-hip filmmakers that's the very antithesis of sentimental gay love stories. [31 Oct 1997]
89
Austin Chronicle
Russell Smith
Thanks largely to the raw bravery and intensity of the two leads' performances, Happy Together takes a quantum leap forward in terms of visceral power.
88
San Francisco Examiner
G. Allen Johnson
Happy Together is Wong's most fully realized work. It is a pleasure to watch an interesting mind feel his way, and the result is something more than just a passing fancy.
80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Stylistically brash, pulsing with life.
80
Time
Richard Corliss
[A] sexy, spiky love story.
75
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Style oozing from virtually every frame.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Wong returns once more to what he seems to know best - the visual poetry of the urban Asian night, a world of characters on the move, coming and going, never really getting anywhere. [5 Dec 1997]
70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Structurally and dramatically this is all over the place, but stylistically it's gripping, and thematically it suggests an oblique response to the end of Hong Kong's colonial rule.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
The vignettes don't add up to a story, but Wong's nervy brio and subterranean-fantasy style make for an arresting work about an exotic subculture.
60
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Acerbic, moody, and provocatively slight, it's a movie of apparent non sequiturs and privileged moments. [21 Oct 1997]
50
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Happy Together feels joylessly fussed over.
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Wong Kar-Wai, whose energetic and inventive style isn't enough to give the shallow story the substance and resonance it needs.
40
Empire
Ian Freer
In the absence of any genuine emotional wallop, it is the directorial pizzazz that pulls you through. Just about.
38
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
An abundance of style and an almost total lack of substance make Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together a visually arresting but ultimately unrewarding excursion. [31 Oct 1997]
 The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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