Happy Together (1997)

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

This is a story of two people who are, contrary to the title, mostly not very happy together. These two men are in what we would call an abusive relationship. They hurt each other and many times can't stand each other, but they simultaneously need each other as well because without each other they become lonely and end up in a downwards spiral. The film presents their relationship in a very brutal and raw way, director Wong Kar-Wai doesn't hold anything back and never refrains from showing us how emotionally abusive, and sometimes physically abusive, this relationship is. But they still come back together and attempt to start over, and that dynamic is a fascinatingly complex one. It sheds a lot of light on why some people either take a long time to leave an abusive relationship or never leave one at all.

As you can imagine, the movie can be extremely depressing at times, in my opinion sometimes even too depressing than it really needs to be. The lack of joy and the constant misery is really what keeps the movie from being great. While I really like what the movie accomplishes, it doesn't quite have enough dynamism to make me feel like this is anything more than just an exceptionally well-made single issue film (mostly a nit-pick). The movie might be called Happy Together but it's anything but happy. But Wong brings energy to the movie via his cinematography and editing which varies quite a lot during the movie, always seemingly mirroring the emotions of the men in the relationship. In the beginning when the two have broken up the film is black-and-white, but later when they decide to start over color comes in and the cinematography becomes more jagged showing the excitement that is renewed in their lives, though excitement doesn't necessarily mean happiness.

Grade: B+

Chungking Express (1994)

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

When you think of a film from Hong Kong, you usually think of police thrillers, because those are the types of Hong Kong movies that have achieved success all over the world. But in this film, Wong Kar-Wai takes that idea and turns it on its head. He tells two stories that are just barely connected, each about a police officer in the bustling urban jungle of Hong Kong, but the two police never get involved in shootouts and the film isn't some frenetically paced action film. Instead, both stories are existential stories of the difficulties of finding romantic emotional connection in an urban world. Hong Kong is a place that has a dense population in which you'll see a sea of people either way you look, but this film looks at the paradoxical effects that has on finding real emotional connection in such a dense world.

The first story is more of a noir film with a similar tone to Blade Runner complete with existential mysterious characters, but the second film switches it up completely and is more of a screwball romance influenced more by Jean-Luc Godard with its quirky, loveable yet flawed characters and its guerilla-style down and dirty filmmaking. The second story takes more than half the running time and is more satisfying as a whole and really overshadows the first (this would be more of an issue if the first story took up more running time, but it doesn't). The first story establishes the idea of finding connection in a disconnected place, and the second one takes it all the way, creating a full romance that is entertaining but also one that has the characters actually taking action and trying to do something about the dissatisfaction they have (the frequent use of the song "California Dreamin'" in the second story establishes the idea of yearning for a new experience just so well). This is definitely a film I'll be coming back to, the second story is just so visceral and affecting on so many levels, and I feel like I'll see a lot more in that first story when I see this one again.

Grade: A-

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Directors: Andrew Lau and Alan Mak

I've already seen Martin Scorsese's The Departed, which is a remake of this film, so many of the surprises in the movie weren't all that surprising to me. But nonetheless the movie is wonderfully plotted and paced, and it does actually get into some of the psychological issues of the characters. The two main characters in the movie make sensible decisions, and that difficulty of living a double life for both of  them is well established and not entirely cliche.

While the plot is exciting and well done, some of the filmmaking is actually pretty cliche, and worse, lazy. The music is cringe-inducing at times, and the all-too-frequent flashbacks to scenes we've already seen assumes the viewers are not smart enough to figure the movie out. The movie has got some serious flaws in the way it tells the emotion of the story. But the relatively high level of actual character study in what is essentially a crime picture, is enough to make it worth it. It's not quite as great as The Departed, but it is a movie that can be enjoyed on its own merits.

Grade: B-