Comments on: HAPPY TOGETHER

By: Todd C. Martin

Todd C. Martin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:06:22 +0000

I’ll begin my review of “Happy Together” by acknowledging that viewing this film appears to have been a positive experience for most of the other reviewers. To briefly summarize, other reviewers claim that this movie is “painfully honest”, “involving”, “masterfully directed”, and “artistic.” Therefore, if you are reading my review because you are thinking of renting “Happy Together”, I want to stress to you that my bad experience with this movie appears to be the exception rather than the rule.Now that I have made my disclaimer, I will go on to describe my impressions of “Happy Together.” First and foremost, I think the movie is extremely monotonous. The two main characters argue, make-up, argue, make-up, argue, make-up, etc. etc. for what seems like at least three hours. Interspersed between these recuring spats are endlessly repeated scenes of people working and talking in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, endlessly repeated scenes of people playing soccer in the street, and endlessly repeated scenes of people walking through traffic. This is about all that happens throughout the first hour and 15 minutes (which is as much as I could stand to watch).Second, I think that the main characters are severely underdeveloped. I can describe everything I know about these two guys in three sentences: 1. One guy realizes that the relationship has become unhealthy, but is somewhat reluctant to put an end to it once-and-for-all. 2. The other guy is extremely dependent on the first guy, and stubbornly resists attempts to end the relationship. 3. Both guys are really lonely, and this is the real reason they continue their relationship.This is truly all I can say. Otherwise, these two guys are a complete blank slate. As a result of this lack of character development, I was sick to death of both of them within about 15 minutes.Finally, I think the attempts at innovative cinematography and “artistic symbolism” are contrived, pointless, and often annoying. For example, the speeding up and slowing down of the film speed adds nothing aesthetically, and in fact only serves to make the cinematography seem jerky and difficult to follow. I also think that the still shot of the waterfall near the beginning of the movie is badly photographed and far too lengthy (I’d guess over a minute long).Perhaps “Happy Together” redeems itself during the final half-hour. After about an hour and fifteen minutes of seemingly endless bickering and sophomoric attempts at “art”, I could bear no more and went to bed. If you choose to view “Happy Together”, perhaps you could let me know whether the bickering was ever resolved.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: gonn1000

gonn1000 — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:28:16 +0000

This movie tries to present deep, complex and intriguing characters but that pretension ends up delivering a flat, tedious and emotionally empty story. The plot focuses the relationship of two gay men, their co-dependence and the everyday struggles they must face, most of them with each other. It coul be interesting if the characters weren`t so distant and devoid of any life or worthwile qualities. Instead, they turn into shallow, selfish people that only add to a slow and lifeless movie. Director Wong Kar-Wai (“Fallen Angels”, “In The Mood For Love”) delivers some stylish, beautiful images with creative camera angles and an engaging use of lightning, but it doesn`t help much since the story itself drags on and on and fails to captivate one`s attention. Some pretty and original details aside, “Happy Together” is a long, boring and useless waste of film. Disposable.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:18:35 +0000

Okay, okay, I know the rest of you guys LOVED this movie, but I thought it was terrible. Bleak, depressing visuals and a bleak, depressing storyline about bleak, depressing personalities. Give me a break. This movie has nothing on films like My Beautiful Launderette, Maurice, Beautiful Thing, the Wedding Banquet, etc. Brighten up, folks.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: LysKitsune

LysKitsune — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:54:42 +0000

I’ve watched this film three times now for the pure masochistic joy of it all. It’s awful. Now I enjoy a good Hong Kong gay love story, but this is a bad Hong Kong gay … something.. story. The basic premise is you have two miserable codependent gay men who are stuck in Argentina hating each other. One guy is a simple loser, almost but not quite to the point of being a sympathetic character. The other guy keeps taking care of the loser, apparently disgusted by him and yet miserable when there’s the slightest hint that he could become self-sufficient. Representative of a lot of relationships? Sure, but they’re not really interesting people, just boring people with issues. You wonder what either of them see in each other besides the fact that they can’t get anyone else. Now it tries very hard to be artsy and have a message, but the message it gets across best is “Here are two people you would ditch in a shopping mall after two minutes if you’re extremely altruistic, thirty seconds if you have any self respect.” I would recommend this for a viewing only if you have something you need to atone for in your karma and a little self-punishment will put you back on track.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: membruto

membruto — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:40:29 +0000

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. If I hadn’t read the reviews posted here I would have had NO idea what was going on. Actually I STILL have NO idea what was going on. TOTAL waste of time and money.
Rating: 1 / 5