Mash-Up No. 3: Holly Golightly & Paul Varjak

(When a Relationship’s Explosive, Messy and Just So Wrong)

Holly is lostindaydreams

Remember our operational definition of mash-ups? Let’s review, kids. “Mash-up is what happens ‘when you take two songs and mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression. In other words, two songs that might not initially seem to belong together are blended, the process of which reveals unexpected connections between the songs and might even yield an even stronger work than either one is on its own.’”

But what if it’s a Bizaro mash-up (you know, Bizaro? That freak who’s the anti-hero of Superman, the positron of an electron or the anti-gravity of, well, gravity.)? In short, it’s something that results in the opposite of an intended effect. You mash the pair up and kaput! Disaster! And your name shall be “Happy Together.”

I remember this film well, not just because it’s Wong Kar Wai, but because it gave me a headache.

Two lovers from Hong Kong, explode together in Argentina and seem forever poised to fight the predestined consequences of their natures. One is flighty, another, an anchor. A la Holly v. Paul of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (but without the happy ending and full orchestra to cap it off). Opposites attract, yes, and yet, there is ever the danger of annihilation.

Here’s to love.

A brief write-up of the movie, “Happy Together,” says:

“In high school freshman biology class I asked a question that exposed my ignorance of all things sexual. After having seen so many Hollywood movies in which lovers always seemed to click, I asked a teacher why everyone didn't take the same amount of time to reach orgasm. "Everyone is different," she said.

And that is the ultimate truth of relationships. Rarely are two people in synch. But when it does happen, it's amazing. Perhaps that's what makes Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together such an amazing movie. It highlights the fact that we are rarely in synch with each other.

The plot of the film is relatively simple. Lai Yiu Fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po Wing (Leslie Cheung) are lovers in a tumultuous relationship. But they are passionate when they are together. Getting away from Hong Kong which is on the verge of its historic repossession by the Chinese government from British rule, they end up in Buenos Aires. As they search for Igazu Falls, they end up angering each other, and Wing breaks it off. "Maybe sometime we can start again," he says, as they so often do. But Fai has had enough of stopping and starting and this time, he's tired of all the games (even though he plays them too).

Fai takes a job as a doorman at a tango bar, and Wing turns to a life of hustling. Their paths cross again, and when Fai sees Wing's new lifestyle, he is destroyed. But their paths continue to cross until a violent client breaks Wing's hands, and Fai takes him in. Eventually they become lovers again, but Fai still cannot stand Wing's waywardness and coyness. Fai eventually kicks out Wing. Fai finds a new job at a restaurant and befriends a young boy named Cheng (Chan Cheng), who has the distinguishing characteristic of having very good hearing. As Fai has reached a low point, the youth's enthusiasm brings him to a better place, though he is filled with melancholy and a longing to make good with his family. Fai, to quell these desires, starts having sex in anonymous bathrooms and porno theaters, something he thought only Wing does. Eventually, Fai makes a third effort to find Igazu Falls, and this time succeeds. Then he returns to Hong Kong, where he makes a short stop at the Cheng family's market. Fai sees Cheng's picture and at last feels confident that he can visit his old friend, though his relationship with his own family remains rocky.

Simply put, that's the story of the film: Two lovers break up, try to get back together, and fail miserably. This is the flip side of Sunrise. As Sunrise told the story of a married couple that survived their differences and boredoms, Happy Together suggests a sense of alienation and difficulty in all relationships of getting into synch together. As is the case in most of the time with Wing and Fai, they are never able to bend to the other's need until it is too late. They both want to make each other happy, but not for the sake of their individualism and their pride.” (http://www.cinemonkey.com/reviews/houxhappy/houxhappy.html)