Happy Together/春光乍洩 (Chun gwong cha sit) (1997) - Kar-Wai's expat love drama magic

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Buenos Aires Movie of the Year + Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Tony Leung & Leslie Cheung + Best Rainbow Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year

 

A scene of love from the film is used on this lovely poster for Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together. - This poster was banned in Hong Kong

In a spartan apartment in Buenos Aires, two Hong Kong expats live as a couple, who love but also argue and combat each other and their lives as gay foreigners far from home.

 

Happy Together is written and directed by Chinese master filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai (As Tears Go By/Wong Gok ka moon (1988)), adapting The Buenos Aires Affair (1973) by Manuel Puig (Kiss of the Spider Woman (1976)).

It is a rarely un-prettied up and intimate, authentic portrayal of love, and one that's more blue than red so to speak. Tony Leung (Lust, Caution/Se, jie (2007)) is excellent as our protagonist, who works as a doorman and later in a restaurant and struggles with his boyfriend's looseness and volatility.

SPOILER Intermingled with the heartaches lie beauty and new friendship, as the two break up. Happy Together is a deeply moving and precious depiction, at the same time playful, youthful and accomplished.

 

Related posts:

Wong Kar-Wai: The Grandmaster/一代宗師/一代宗师/Yīdài Zōngshī/Jat1 Doi6 Zung1 Si1/ (2013) - Visuals prevail in Kar-Wai's strange kung fu spectacle 

My Blueberry Nights (2007) - A slice too cute
2046 (2004) - Kar-Wai's visually resplendent, empty hull of a movie 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best erotic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

In the Mood for Love/花樣年華/faa1joeng6 nin4waa4/huāyàng niánhuá (2000) - Kar-Wai's delectable home run 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best gay-themed titles
Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Kar-Wai's urban love drama is a visual treat 

Watch a very short trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4.2 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 1.9 mil. $

= Uncertain

[Happy Together premiered 17 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 96 minutes. Leung was lured to Argentina for the shoot with a fake script and was only then informed that he would have to do a gay sex scene in the film. Shooting took place in Argentina, including in Buenos Aires, Brazil, Hong Kong and in Taipei City, Taiwan. The film opened #21 to a 12k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it grossed 320k $. The film made 8.6 mil. $ HK, equal to approximately 1.1 mil. $. It was also released in many other markets, and the real total gross is regrettably not possible to ascertain but may likely be in the 2-4 mil. $ span. It has made at least 251k $ and 195k $ in re-release grosses in 2020 and 2021. It won the Best Director prize in Cannes and 1/9 Hong Kong Film awards, among other honors. Kar-Wai returned with a 1998 Motorola commercial and theatrically with In the Mood for Love/Fa yeung nin wah (2000). Leung returned in '97 Aces Go Places/Jui gaai paak dong: Jui gai paak dong (1997); Leslie Cheung (Viva Erotica/Sik ching nam lui (1996)) in Ninth Happiness/Gau sing bou hei (1998). Happy Together is fresh at 82 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Happy Together?

The Grandmaster/一代宗師/一代宗师/Yīdài Zōngshī/Jat1 Doi6 Zung1 Si1/ (2013) - Visuals prevail in Kar-Wai's strange kung fu spectacle

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+ Best Hong Kong Movie of the Year + Best Kung Fu Movie of the Year

 

Vivid motion and water splashing incredibly are central elements on this mostly black and white poster for Wong Kar-Wai's The Grandmaster

Kung fu legend Yip Man is followed in 1936 during internal competitions in China's martial arts groups, Japanese occupation and great changes in the country.

The Grandmaster is written by Jingzhi Zou (Legend of a Kung Fu Rabbit/Tu xia chuan qi (2011)), Haofeng Xu (Judge Archer/Jian shi liu bai yuan (2012)) and Chinese master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Wong Kar-Wai (As Tears Go By/Wong Gok ka moon (1988)). It is based on real-life Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man. The original title translates to, 'ancestral teacher of a generation.'

It is a fascinating and odd film, which it seems hard to fully comprehend, perhaps notably as a Westerner, - but even as a Westerner who has seen a good deal of kung fu movies. Much of it ostensibly revolves around kung fu techniques.

The Grandmaster has kinetic, explosive fight scenes, and Kar-Wai makes it an esoteric art form all his own to manipulate the speed of large portions of the film's shots, which enshrouds it in an unreal haze. This makes periods of the film seem downright dizzying as an onslaught of beauty and poetry in violent motion. The Grandmaster definitely deserves to be watched more than once.

 

Related posts:

Wong Kar-Wai: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

My Blueberry Nights (2007) - A slice too cute
2046 (2004) - Kar-Wai's visually resplendent, empty hull of a movie 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

In the Mood for Love/花樣年華/faa1joeng6 nin4waa4/huāyàng niánhuá (2000) - Kar-Wai's delectable home run 
Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Kar-Wai's urban love drama is a visual treat 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 240 mil. CNY, approximately 38.6 mil. $

Box office: 73.9 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.91 times its cost)

[The Grandmaster was released 8 January (China) and runs 130 minutes, with shorter Western versions running 123 and 108 minutes. Development began in 2008. One delay came when Tony Leung (Hard Boiled/Lat sau san taam (1992)), who plays Ip Man, broke his arm while training Wing Chun. Shooting took place from December 2009 - April 2010 in China. The film opened #37 to a 132k $ first weekend in North America in 7 theaters, where it peaked at #15 and in 804 theaters (different weeks), grossing 6.5 mil. $ (8.8 % of the total gross). The biggest markets were China with 45.2 mil. $ (61.2 %), North America and Hong Kong with 2.7 mil. $ (3.7 %). While the original cut runs 130 minutes, the Berlin International Film Festival cut - the first shown in the West - is 123 minutes, and the North-American edit dictated by distributor The Weinstein Company, is 108 minutes. The film was Hong Kong's nomination for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars. It was instead nominated for 2 other Oscars; it lost Best Cinematography (Philippe Le Sourd (Melody for a Hustler/Cantique de la Racaille (1998)) to Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity and Costumes to The Great Gatsby. It won 7/11 Asian Film award nominations, 12/14 Hong Kong Film award nominations, a National Board of Review award, among other honors. The film made an additional 9.8 mil. $ (13.3 %) at a 2015 Chinese re-release. Kar-Wai has not returned as director since The Grandmaster and is only announced in connection with two - perhaps - coming TV-series. Leung returned in Shimajiro: A Wonderful Adventure/Gekijouban Shimajirou no wao!: Shimajirou to kujira no uta (2014); Ziyi Zhang (Love for Life/Mo shu wai zhuan (2011)) in Better and Better/Yue lai yue hao: Cun wan (2013). The Grandmaster is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Grandmaster?

In the Mood for Love/花樣年華/faa1joeng6 nin4waa4/huāyàng niánhuá (2000) - Kar-Wai's delectable home run

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The film's photogenic couple are lounged across this deep red colored poster for Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love

A man and a woman, both unhappily married to spouses who are abroad, work together at the same office and fall in love with each other but withstand the temptation.

In the Mood for Love is written and directed by Chinese master filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai (As Tears Go By/Wong Gok ka moon (1988)), whose 7th feature it is. The original Chinese title, which is the title of a pop song used in the film, translates to 'the age of blossoms'.
It is a sublime film about desire and unresolved love. It is erotic, compelling and beautiful.
The tone and imagery, (cinematography by Christopher Doyle (Beijing, New York (2015)), Pung-Leung Kwan (Hold You Tight/Yue kuai le, yue duo luo (1998)) and Ping Bin Lee (The Queens/Wo shi nv wang (2015))), are second to none.

Related posts:

Wong Kar-Wai: The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

My Blueberry Nights (2007) - A slice too cute
2046 (2004) - Kar-Wai's visually resplendent, empty hull of a movie 
Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Kar-Wai's urban love drama is a visual treat

Watch a trailer for the film here 

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Reportedly 12.8 mil. $
= Uncertain
[In the Mood for Love premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting reportedly took (outrageously long) 15 months in Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong and China. Cinematographer Doyle had to exit production, as it went over-schedule. The film opened #41 to a 113k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #27 and in 74 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2.7 mil. $ (21.1 % of the total gross). The film made 8.6 mil. HK$ in Hong Kong, approximately 1.1 mil. $ (8.6 %). The specifics as to the other major markets that made up the 12.8 mil. $ listed gross are not revealed online. The film was nominated for a BAFTA, won 2 awards at Cannes, a César award, was nominated for a David di Donatello award and won a European Film award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches harder than this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #239 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Before Sunset (2004) and Paris, Texas (1984). Kar-Wai returned with 6 shorts before his theatrical return with 2046 (2004). Tony Leung (Timeless Romance/Chiu si hung yiu oi (1998)) returned in Healing Hearts/Hap gwat yan sam (2000); Maggie Cheung (Twin Dragons/Seong lung wui (1992)) in Le Bel Hiver (2000, short) and theatrically in Hero/Ying xiong (2002). In the Mood for Love is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.84/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In the Mood for Love?

Lust, Caution/色，戒/Sè, Jiè/Sik1Gaai3 (2007) - Lee's erotic spy thriller is an exquisite, complex masterpiece

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Taiwanese Movie of the Year + Best Erotic Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Best Spy Thriller of the Year

The two leads in a sensual embrace on this desaturated poster for Ang Lee's Lust, Caution with highlighted bloody reds

A young woman is engaged in a patriotic Chinese theater group in Shanghai in the late 1930s. Their energetic leader advocates fighting the Japanese occupation by murdering the local collaborator Mr. Yee. This becomes the beginning of a dangerous duplicity for the girl.

Lust, Caution is written by Hui-Ling Wang (The Myth/San wa (2005)) and James Schamus (Hulk (2003)), adapting Eileen Chang's (Love in a Fallen City (1943)) same-titled 1979 novella, and directed by Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (Life of Pi (2012)). It is a cinematic treat so irresistible that one floats through its extensive running time as on an exquisite period journey. Lee's vision is uncompromising, and he gives the film an intensity and a depth that is wholly his work.
Lust, Caution stands out due to stunningly beautiful images, (cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Babel (2006))), a meticulous, sensual sound design as well as costumes, hair, sets and language that continue to impress. And actors that give career-defining performances: Tony Chieu-Wai Leung (The Silent War/Ting feng zhe (2012)) is so natural as Yee, a character that stirs ambivalent feelings in us, and Wei Tang (The Golden Era/Huang jin shi dai (2014)) is simply incredible in every way as our brave, sexy protagonist.
Lust, Caution is a terribly well-made spy tale of lust, intimate bonds, national pride, treason, anguish and self-sacrifice, and it is among Lee's finest accomplishments.

Related posts:

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2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
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2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
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The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Weren't Possible 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 67 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.46 times the cost)
[Lust, Caution premiered 30 August (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 158 minutes. Shooting took place in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, in China, including Shanghai, and in Hong Kong, ending in September 2006. Lee has stated that the approximately 10 minutes of sex scenes in the film took roughly 100 hours to shoot, and that they were more difficult to produce than the elaborate fighting sequences in his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Wo hu cang long (2000). The film opened #49 in 1 theater to a huge 63k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #20 and in 143 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 4.6 mil. $ (6.9 % of the total gross), impressive for a foreign language epic with an NC-17 rating. The film's 3 biggest markets were China with 17.1 mil. $ (25.5 %), South Korea with 10.7 mil. $ (16 %) and Taiwan with 7.9 mil. $ (11.8 %). It was the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of the year in Hong Kong, and the 3rd highest-grossing Chinese-language film in China of the year. It was only released cut in China, India and other countries, and lead actress Tang was blacklisted from the Chinese film business for 3 years, because the dictatorial Chinese state disapproved of her performance's sexual nature in the film. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to two notches harder than this one. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs, won 1/6 Asian Film award nominations, was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards, won a National Board of Review award and two awards at the Venice Film Festival. At a 2007 press conference in Los Angeles, an elderly lady proclaimed that she was suing for defamation, as the lady spy of the film is reportedly based on older her sister's actions some 70 years earlier, but nothing more came of this. Taiwan entered the film for the Oscars, but it was rejected, because it did not have enough Taiwanese nationals in key positions. The film made in excess of 24 mil. $ on the North-American home video market, which would change its status to a huge hit if figured into the equation. Lee returned with Taking Woodstock (2009). Leung returned in Red Cliff/Chi bi (2008); Tang eventually in Late Autumn/Man-choo (2010). Lust, Caution is fresh at 73 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lust, Caution?

Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Kar-Wai's urban love drama is a visual treat

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Hong Kong Movie of the Year

A beautiful, evocative poster for Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express

QUICK REVIEW:

In the big city, people live very close to each other, but carry on their lives very far apart as well: A restless cop loses his girlfriend and seeks solace with a drug smuggler donning a blond wig. Another cop loses his flight attendant girlfriend and begins seeing a girl at the snack bar, where he picks up his boss's daily salad.

The plot arc is unusual in Express, which tells one story and then another. The film drifts forward in much the same aimless, intimacy-seeking pace that its lead characters live their lives in. Their in some ways transparent lives break through in melancholic grandeur in the film's most evocative images (by cinematographers Wai-keung Lau (Infernal Affairs/Mou Gaan Dou (2002)) and Christopher Doyle (Hero/Ying Xiong (2002))), in the rainy night or the ones where time seems to stand still. 
Tony Chiu Wai Leung (In the Mood for Love/Fa Yeung Nin Wa (2000)) gives a tender performance, and Express is visually strong and beautiful. It does, I think, overuse two of its gimmicks a bit: SPOILER The use of the song California Dreamin' by The Mamas and the Papas and Leung's characters 'dialog' with objects. 
The film is directed by great Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love), who wrote and made the film as a creatively freer exercise during his making of the big sword adventure Ashes of Time/Dung Che Sai Duk (1994)). He is busy at the moment with pre-production on his next film, The Ferryman (2015), which will star both male leads from Express.

 

Related post:

 

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin in Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express

Watch the not very good US trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 0.6 mil. $ (US), 7.6 mil. HK$

= Uncertainty

[Express seems to have been a big local hit in Hong Kong, but without any budget information, - besides the director's statement in different interviews that it was "very low-budget", - we cannot know for sure whether the film, - which received a slim US distribution through Quentin Tarantino's (a fan of Kar-Wai) Rolling Thunder Pictures distribution company, - was a financial success.]

What do you think of Chungking Express?

2046 (2004) - Kar-Wai's visually resplendent, empty hull of a movie

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A kitschy, sensual, mysterious poster for Wong Kar-Wai's 2046

2046 is a sequel to Days of Being Wild/Ah Fei Zing Zyun (1991) and the wonderful In the Mood for Love/Faa Yeung Nin Wa (2000), by great returning Chinese writer/director Wong Kar-Wai (My Blueberry Nights (2007)). The plot of the film is very hard to relate, because it is thin as ice at best:
 
2046 is about the man from the former film (played by Tony Leung (Tokyo Raiders/Dong Jing Gong Lüe (2000))), who in late 1960s Hong Kong has a lot of ladies and struggles with the writing of a science fiction novel.

For large parts of the film, it seems that the idea of whispering one's secrets into a hole in a tree is the only major idea of this film, (and that really comes from its predecessor.) The many women surrounding our protagonist are unengaging, and the film as such is uninteresting, which is a subjective verdict but will still hold true for most people who see it. A completely mindless android subplot doesn't levitate 2046. It is pretentious rubbish, but aesthetically very playful and highly gifted in the strictly visual regard, which is what is still enjoyable about it.


Related posts:

Wong Kar-Wai: My Blueberry Nights (2007) - A slice too cute

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Kar-Wai's urban love drama is a visual treat  

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 19.4 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.61 times the cost)
[2046 premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 129 minutes. It took 4 years to complete. Shooting took place in Thailand and China, including Shanghai and Macau. The title has several meanings in the film. It was screened in a rushed and unfinished version in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It opened #36 (in just 4 theaters) to a 113k $ opening weekend in North America, its 3rd biggest market, where it grossed 1.4 mil. $ (7.2 % of the total gross), topping at #34 and in 61 theaters (different weeks). Its biggest and 2nd biggest markets were Japan with 6.8 mil. $ (35.1 %) and France with 2.6 mil. $ (13.4 %). It was released in Hong Kong, (where it made 0.7 mil. $/3.6 %), but not in China. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2½/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. The film was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won a European Film award, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Kar-Wai returned with Eros (2004, segment), Capture Total (2005, short) and with a feature with My Blueberry Nights (2007). Leung returned in Seoul Raiders (2005). 2046 is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.4/10 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 2046?