In one of the final scenes of Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together, Lai Yiu-Fai (as performed by Tony Leung Chui-Wai) stands alone on viewing platform besides Argentina’s Iguazu Falls. As the Iguazu rush over him in a violent torrent, the viewer is shown an aerial, top down view of the falls gushing into an indistinct cloud of mist. It seems like the falls could be headed anywhere – perhaps into a hole in the Earth that has no end.
“Direction” is an important concept in every Wong Kar Wai film that I’ve seen, and seems to be a constant theme of his work, whether it be the various clocks on the walls in Days of Being Wild pointing some allotted time, or the train bustling forward in perpetuity in 2048. “Where are we going, and what will it be like when we get there?” seems to be a question that all Wong’s films ask in some way or another. Though the answer is never clearly defined, Wong’s continuously found new ways to keep asking. Here, the Iguazu Falls – unstoppable, forceful, and hurdling toward profound uncertainly – are a continuation of this metaphor.
Given Wong’s status as a Hong Kong director, it may be tempting – and is truly possible – to view all of his films as allegories of Hong Kong’s exit as a British colony, and eventual reunification with the People’s Republic China. Could Fai, Po-Wing, and Chang be themselves metaphors for Hong Kong, China, and Great Britain? One of Fai’s major arguments with Po-Wing centers around the number of past boyfriends that Po-Wing has had. Like the British and Hong Kongers, these two seem destined for an ugly break-up. Also like that same relationship, one of these men (Fai) seems to have been truly hurt and misled, while for the other (Po-Wing) could been seen as the surrogate for a relationship-colonizer, to whom Fai is just another fling that didn’t work out.
But I think there’s a lot more to Happy Together than that, even if the political interpretation of Wong’s body of work is too present and yielding to completely ignore. Fai is an exile – socially, nationally, and even within his own family. As a gay Asian man living in Argentina, he has very little to his name – a job that barely supports a meager existence, few relationships, and a boyfriend who does not seem to care for him very much. On paper, Fai is a sympathetic character, but Wong’s genius lies in his ability to truly make the viewer feel the full depth of emotional confusion that his characters are feeling. That Wong’s films work not only so well on the personal level, but also as intellectual, political, and perhaps even philosophical metaphors, is just another mark of his genius.
The Tingle Review 