Wong Kar-wai's direction changes while filming "Happy Together"

A huge number of unused scenes

As usual with Wong Kar-wai's films, Happy Together required a huge amount of film, reaching 400,000 feet. In terms of time, it's about 4,000 minutes. It is 67 hours long. Naturally, most of the scenes were cut from the main story.

Shirley Kwan, who was a very popular singer at the time (she made her debut in Japan with the catchphrase "Hideaki Tokunaga's younger sister"), was also invited to Happy Together, where she was filming, to play the role of Fai's wife, but she All scenes were cut. Tony Léon: The Professional trained in boxing, as well as Spanish and tango dancing, but none of those boxing scenes were used. Apparently Kar-Wai also photographed Diego Maradona, but he does not appear in the finished film. During filming, when it came time for Leslie Cheung to leave Happy Together for her originally scheduled concert tour, Cheung was called in and his part grew in the story.

"Happy Together" © 1997, 2008 Block 2 Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Some of these behind-the-scenes stories are told in the documentary `` Happy Together Zero Celsius '' (not released in theaters in Japan), made two years later.

This fluidity unique to Wong Kar-wai is evident in his previous works `` The Chungking Express '' and `` Fallen Angels '' (1995), where the fates of each character appear to intersect unexpectedly, as if on parallel lines. Although it was effective, in ``Happy Together'', it converges into Fai's deep feelings alone. Both Win, played by Leslie Cheung, and Chan, played by Chang Chen, who weave a deep love relationship, serve as ``partners'' who move Fai's heart. It is the relationship between Fai and her father that is subtly depicted, but ultimately plays an important role. For this reason, even among Kar Wai's works, it is perceived as a story with a solid core.

`` In the Mood for Love '' is also excellent in terms of this kind of story, but ``Happy Together'' maintains the charm of Kar Wai's work, such as improvisation and fluidity, but is far from the stylish impression of ``In the Mood for Love''. I strongly feel that this is a successful case in that it takes a deeper dive into the human emotions of love.

Famous songs inherited from later works