Buenos Aires Zero Degree: The Making of Happy Together (1999) - full transcript
A making of documentary for Happy Together. Includes interviews, on-set footage, cut scenes and footage of crew members revisiting the locations where Happy Together was filmed.
WKW: I?m a big soccer fan...
... and Maradona was Argentinian
So I figured it might be good to do
a movie in Argentina
After the screening...
I decided to move back to Argentina
When they see the film,
our Argentine friends feel...
... that?s kind of remote
but is actually very close to them
Being here brings back
all the memories of the filming
I tend to linger here
if I?m passing by
We shot here every day...
... and I miss this place
This was our office
My desk was over there
I was here
This was the director?s room
It hasn?t changed much
Like this
Tony Leung: Go on, make a wish!
WKW: I?ve worked with most of
these people since my first film
We?ve been together for years now
A film crew is kind of
like a circus...
... on the road together
With this crew...
... I know I?ll get the film
done no matter what
Tony: What he said made me
follow him out of Hong Kong
What he said made me follow him
to Argentina
Leslie: You realize journalists
will quote that! You are doomed!
Tony: When we were in Argentina...
... our lives and the movie
blurred together
In the story, Lai leaves Hong Kong
for Argentina...
... and then everything stops
and he?s stuck
Much like Tony Leung showing up
for work...
... and finding that shooting
hasn?t even started
This is very much like that
Things happened on screen were
close to what I was actually doing
It?s been some time since
I was satisfied by a role
People ask...
... which role
I?m most pleased with
I always said Days of Being Wild
They?d say ??But you?re only
in one shot?? And I?d say ??Right??
Ask me the same question now...
... and I?ll say Happy Together
The director and crew arrived
in mid-August 1996
On the first day...
... everyone was waving maps at me
... asking ??Where?s this?
Where?s that???
Okay, we?ll shoot here!
At the start, Jacky Pang liaised
with the local crew
I was the interpreter
They were casting all the extras
I kept notes for them
and took photos
I had a great time
watching the filming
But their schedule
was totally unpredictable
Sometimes they?d call
in the middle of the night!
It was like I got caught!
When you?re with Tony...
your eyes should follow...
In this scene...Leslie,
maybe you shouldn?t hold Tony
with both hands
Have a cigarette in one hand
and hold him with the other
Try one
That looks great...
...especially the reflection
in the mirror!
The director took
a lot of trouble...
...finding locations
He was full of questions
about Argentinians
What kind of places do they live...
...what work do they do...
This is a port called La Boca
It used to be full of sailors
It gradually became
a residential area
It?s kind of run-down now
This was the place!
You want to take a look?
The phone was there
Hello
Leslie: Recognise me?
That?s where Tony
took Leslie?s call
Aili: That?s it
This was their design
William Chang did it
The director had
his video monitor in here
And this was the room they lived in
Lai Yiu-Fai, let?s start over
Leave me alone!
You?ve left us broke!
I want to get back to Hong Kong!
In my memory, it?s always damp...
...kind of soft
It has a life of its own...
It has a life of its own...
...but kind of sick
It?s like life without sunshine
Your dad called yesterday
Wants you to go back
Come back with me
We?ll see
Fuck This TV set is useless
Get it fixed
I?ll die...
...if I can?t watch TV
Every morning as I leave for work
I stare at Ho Po-Wing...
...wondering if he?ll still
be there when I get back
I should buy a lock
What are you looking for?
Give it back
I won?t
Hit me
Yes, hit me
Yes, hit me
Fuck
Ho Po-Wing
You come and go as you please
I?ve never said a word
But I think this is the last time
Why should I always
be the one left behind?
Two can play at that game
Just watch me!
I didn?t really want to
We?ll do different tonight
Tonight, I?ll leave first
Ho Po-Wing and I won?t meet again,
I know
So I?m leaving him a souvenir of me
You must be so bored
You have nothing better
to do than pick a fight?
Give me back my passport!
Why do you need a passport?
None of your business!
It?s been a year
since we worked here
It was in 1996
It?s changed a lot...
Before...
...this wasn?t concreted over
Hello
Have you eaten yet?
Bring something back for me
Oh, it?s you?
WKW: I need to have a clear sense
of each character?s history
What did they feel
when they came to Argentina?
Each character offers
an individual storyline
I remember very well!
Tony?s character attempted suicide
...and we saved his life
He was brought to the hospital
Shooting the scene
was quite scary at first
Tony was wheeled in on a stretcher
Blood everywhere
Everyone was very nervous
All the doctors and nurses
were scrambling to save him
The director?s idea was
that I had a hopeless crush on Tony
A hopeless crush
I was jealous...
...of his relationship with Leslie
They like each other, right?
So the main thing he asked me
to express was jealousy
That was the director?s idea
Your friend will come
to pick you up?
If you eat spicy food...
...your scars won?t heal properly
It?s you!
I have to go
Bye!
You made me so happy!
You have so much
to talk about with her?
You?re visiting?
I thought doctors visited,
not nurses
Why are you here?
Where?s Ho Po-Wing?
He?s not here
What do you want?
Never mind, I just wanted to
get something back
What?
It doesn?t matter, never mind
Unbelievable!
Is he okay?
Don?t you know that he?s dead?
Ho Po-Wing!
Have you forgotten your name?
You?re Lai Yiu-Fai...
...and I?m Ho Po-Wing!
You know why I kept your passport?
I wanted to keep your name forever
I don?t care
if you use my name or not
But at least
you?ll never forget it
WKW: This isn?t the way
I want the film to be
I?m still not sure what I do want
So I?ll keep looking
He could have both identities...
Leslie could be Ho Po-Wing as well
So he loves his own mirror image,
is that it?
Just like this
Leslie Cheung in drag as a woman
If it doesn?t work,
we won?t show it to anyone
The idea was to tell...
...the story of these two people
But I know...
...we don?t have enough time
to do that
So this is becoming
more focused on Tony
Tony: That line
??We can start over??...
... cuts two ways!
Are we going to start the film
all over again?
WKW: The first idea...
...was to start with Tony arriving
in Argentina
The airport cops tell him
his father is in trouble
He?s there to look for
his father?s one-time lover
And it turns out
this person was a man
Then he finds Leslie
in Buenos Aires...
...and tries to learn
the truth about his dad
At first, the local
production house was fine
But then they began overcharging
If someone wanted $5000
for use of a location...
...they?d quote us $7-8000
They thought the director
was rolling in cash...
...and shooting a kung-fu movie
They didn?t even know
what we were shooting
I kept getting threats
They wouldn?t let us shoot
in some areas
We?d hear ??There?ll be a bomb
if you shoot there??
People would turn up carrying guns
Or they?d warn us that
if the actors went on the street...
...there might be a nasty accident
So we had to stop
We had a story about two people...
But Leslie had to leave
for his concerts in Hong Kong
The story wasn?t finished...
What to do?
I know how to do this shot of Tony
on his own
But when we finish for the day...
...I go off alone
I sit in a coffee-shop,
thinking how to solve the problem
After Leslie Cheung left,
shooting halted for quite a time
The crew had expected...
...a three-week shoot...
...but it dragged on and on
You could see all of them
were longing to get back home
Sometimes there was no filming
for a week or more
Everyone was bored rigid
I said I couldn?t stand it,
I wanted to go home
I dreamt of my mother...
...I was scared!
I really missed everyone back home
I really missed them
I didn?t want to be there on my own
The others felt the same
Maybe it?s because we were all
so far from home
Perhaps
it?s because of the distance
If we weren?t so far away...
...maybe we wouldn?t feel that way
Perhaps Wong Kar-Wai
did it deliberately
Maybe he wanted us all to feel
as if we were dying!
WKW: Actually the shoot went
on much longer than expected
We were supposed to finish
by September
But we kept on deferring
and deferring it...
Deferring and deferring
Fuck
Solutions always present themselves
...at the very last minute
Maybe they aren?t even
real solutions...
But something always turns up
to solve the problem
The Central Restaurant
is kind of a legend
During the shooting,
I fell asleep one night
...and woke to find
my face half paralysed
I went to the Central
to find an acupuncturist
He told me I was apoplectic
and began treating me
with his needles
I recovered in about a fortnight
Every single night...
...there are mahjong games
in the restaurant
You can meet everyone
from Chinese doctors...
to the owners of garment factories
At the time...
...I considered starting
our story there
Argentina is nice...
...Iots of girls, really a lot
I?ve lived in Argentina
for nine years
I married 81/ 2 years ago
We have four children
My ideal man...
...will take me out to the movies
I love watching movies
WKW: I felt very warm towards
the people I met there
Looking at the restaurant?s owner,
I wondered how it would be
if I myself had to start over
in Buenos Aires
What would it be like?
Young people should be adventurous
...study and work hard
It was very tough when we arrived
in Argentina
But we didn?t mind
Young people can put up with that
if they have to
Things will get better and better
It was the same for my daughter
when she arrived here
But she picked up the language
and got the hang of things
I came up with another storyline,
about a young guy
He comes to Argentina, broke...
...and works in the restaurant
In the kitchen he meets someone
very much like Tony Leung
And his story starts to emerge
Where are you heading?
Dunno...
As far as I can go
Aren?t your folks
worried about you?
This was my idea
They don?t even know where I am
Will you ever go back?
Chang Chen plays a kid
from somewhere else entirely
He?s very much like
a young Leslie Cheung
He has a real youthful energy...
...which drives Tony on
No mahjong game today...
Don?t feel like it
Wanna come for a drink?
You can go!
I?m okay!
What?
Are you throwing up?
Here, I?ll help you
This is 6 November 1996, evening
I?m in a station snack-bar
As far from Taipei as
it?s possible to be
I just had two hotdogs,
they tasted really bad
And a Coke
There?s a guy sitting next to me
I really want to talk to him
He?s probably the last friend
I?ll make in this city
Hello!
Strange he?s so kind to me!
Dunno what he?s saying...
...but it doesn?t matter
It?s like he?s wishing me
a good trip
Oh, this hotdog tastes so bad...
Twenty minutes out of
Buenos Aires...
...I got into a fight
I was in the mood for it
Where are you heading?
Aren?t your folks
worried about you?
Can I talk to you?
No special reason
I just want to hear your voice
I saw you once...
...do you always sing in cars?
You were singing when I saw you
I always wanted to know
what song it was
I guess
I wasn?t close enough to hear
I couldn?t hear
I wondered...
...about your voice
But didn?t see you again
So I thought...
...I?d never know
You know...
...I saw you the day I arrived here
Can we move forward forever?
Near ?the end of the world?...
...the southernmost tip
...I wondered
if we?d keep going or turn back
This ?edge of the world? is...
...where the kid?s story can end
Chang Chen: I promised Ah Fai...
...that I?d leave his sadness here
But I can?t make out
what he said that night
Maybe it didn?t record right
His voice isn?t there
There?s just
a couple of strange sounds
WKW: He want his journey to go on,
but it can?t
So he just stays here
It?s as if time has stopped here,
by the water
Tony:1 January 1997
I?m ready to make a new start
I want to go back to Hong Kong
But before going home...
I decide
I must see the Iguazu Falls
You know the giant waterfall?
We went there twice
The second time
I figured out how to escape
First, I?d book myself
on a flight back to Hong Kong
When we got back to Buenos Aires
on a domestic flight...
I?d be first off the plane
and I?d dash for a taxi
I?d go straight
to the international airport
I?d leave the others...
...to take care of my luggage
That was how I planned
to escape back to Hong Kong!
Finally, of course, I didn?t do it
I had to alter my flight booking
more than ten times
Every time I asked Wong Kar-Wai
when I could leave...
...he?d say
??Maybe another ten days or so??
WKW: The filming dragged on and on
Everyone was homesick
We have worked together for long...
...so they all knew
the film wasn?t yet finished
They could see I had problems
But no-one said anything
Under such pressure...
...I always wanted...
...to go off for walks
Sometimes I wonder...
...why I went to
such a place to shoot
Then I started thinking...
I have the thought
I really wanted it all to be over
The sooner we all get home,
the happier we?ll be
One ending we considered...
...was Tony at the waterfall
Maybe he dies there, maybe not
Then I realized...
...he should go back to Hong Kong
Our own experience taught me that
It would have been hard...
...if they?d all left together
But they left one by one...
...so that was better
They all wanted to get home...
...for Christmas and New Year
I knew that day would come
A few days after the last one left
...I moved back to Taiwan
It was like...
I felt a sense of loss
And I thought I might feel better
...if I tried to do...
...something else in Taiwan
When they?d all gone...
...I knew I had to go back
It?s rare for me to make up
my own mind about things
Usually I ask my parents for advice
But that time...
...I knew what I had to do
The assistant director Johnny
asked me to do continuity
I was plunged straight into it
I?d never thought about working
in movies before
But this experience
got me interested
It was my first time...
...to work with a lot of Chinese
I like going to places
where nobody knows me
Nobody knows who I am...
Nobody knows my story...
...or where I?m from
I like that kind of feeling
So I really like
Chang Chen?s character in the film
Don?t know why...
...but that?s how I feel
If I meet another Chinese
person abroad...
...I don?t feel close to them
I don?t need Chinese friends...
...or Chinese shops or anything
I simply don?t need them
I guess it?s a way of...
...making myself feel stronger
I miss these things a bit...
...but I don?t need them
And I do feel stronger for it
Tony: Are you Chinese?
Where are you heading?
Can you sing for me?
Are you Chinese?
Where are you heading?
Give me a coin for the phone?
I need another one
Me again!
It?s my excuse
for staying here with you!
It?s me!
How are you doing?
Right, you?re leaving
to see the waterfall?
Hold me!
Why?
Nothing, just making them jealous!
I?ll drop you off
No need
Are you okay?
I?m fine...
You?
I?m okay
WKW: Finally she takes a job
near the Falls
And once in a while she wonders...
...if he ever made it there or not
That?s her story
Happy Together...
...is like a full stop
The end of a certain period in life
We all have our own calendars
but the film is a watershed
for all of us
We?ll all remember...
...everything we went through
As for the people who helped us...
Aili still works on movies
in Argentina
James and Laurita are in Europe now
In late January...
...I found myself a job in Taiwan
It was translation work
Meanwhile they were
still shooting the film
The newspaper said
they were filming in Taipei
So I went along to see them
that night
Films do come from life
But they?re not my whole life
I?m getting better
at keeping them separate
Not like before
I?d been working in Taiwan
for a few months...
...when Happy Together
had its premiere
I was so pleased...
...to see them that day!
After the screening...
I decided
to move back to Argentina
... and Maradona was Argentinian
So I figured it might be good to do
a movie in Argentina
After the screening...
I decided to move back to Argentina
When they see the film,
our Argentine friends feel...
... that?s kind of remote
but is actually very close to them
Being here brings back
all the memories of the filming
I tend to linger here
if I?m passing by
We shot here every day...
... and I miss this place
This was our office
My desk was over there
I was here
This was the director?s room
It hasn?t changed much
Like this
Tony Leung: Go on, make a wish!
WKW: I?ve worked with most of
these people since my first film
We?ve been together for years now
A film crew is kind of
like a circus...
... on the road together
With this crew...
... I know I?ll get the film
done no matter what
Tony: What he said made me
follow him out of Hong Kong
What he said made me follow him
to Argentina
Leslie: You realize journalists
will quote that! You are doomed!
Tony: When we were in Argentina...
... our lives and the movie
blurred together
In the story, Lai leaves Hong Kong
for Argentina...
... and then everything stops
and he?s stuck
Much like Tony Leung showing up
for work...
... and finding that shooting
hasn?t even started
This is very much like that
Things happened on screen were
close to what I was actually doing
It?s been some time since
I was satisfied by a role
People ask...
... which role
I?m most pleased with
I always said Days of Being Wild
They?d say ??But you?re only
in one shot?? And I?d say ??Right??
Ask me the same question now...
... and I?ll say Happy Together
The director and crew arrived
in mid-August 1996
On the first day...
... everyone was waving maps at me
... asking ??Where?s this?
Where?s that???
Okay, we?ll shoot here!
At the start, Jacky Pang liaised
with the local crew
I was the interpreter
They were casting all the extras
I kept notes for them
and took photos
I had a great time
watching the filming
But their schedule
was totally unpredictable
Sometimes they?d call
in the middle of the night!
It was like I got caught!
When you?re with Tony...
your eyes should follow...
In this scene...Leslie,
maybe you shouldn?t hold Tony
with both hands
Have a cigarette in one hand
and hold him with the other
Try one
That looks great...
...especially the reflection
in the mirror!
The director took
a lot of trouble...
...finding locations
He was full of questions
about Argentinians
What kind of places do they live...
...what work do they do...
This is a port called La Boca
It used to be full of sailors
It gradually became
a residential area
It?s kind of run-down now
This was the place!
You want to take a look?
The phone was there
Hello
Leslie: Recognise me?
That?s where Tony
took Leslie?s call
Aili: That?s it
This was their design
William Chang did it
The director had
his video monitor in here
And this was the room they lived in
Lai Yiu-Fai, let?s start over
Leave me alone!
You?ve left us broke!
I want to get back to Hong Kong!
In my memory, it?s always damp...
...kind of soft
It has a life of its own...
It has a life of its own...
...but kind of sick
It?s like life without sunshine
Your dad called yesterday
Wants you to go back
Come back with me
We?ll see
Fuck This TV set is useless
Get it fixed
I?ll die...
...if I can?t watch TV
Every morning as I leave for work
I stare at Ho Po-Wing...
...wondering if he?ll still
be there when I get back
I should buy a lock
What are you looking for?
Give it back
I won?t
Hit me
Yes, hit me
Yes, hit me
Fuck
Ho Po-Wing
You come and go as you please
I?ve never said a word
But I think this is the last time
Why should I always
be the one left behind?
Two can play at that game
Just watch me!
I didn?t really want to
We?ll do different tonight
Tonight, I?ll leave first
Ho Po-Wing and I won?t meet again,
I know
So I?m leaving him a souvenir of me
You must be so bored
You have nothing better
to do than pick a fight?
Give me back my passport!
Why do you need a passport?
None of your business!
It?s been a year
since we worked here
It was in 1996
It?s changed a lot...
Before...
...this wasn?t concreted over
Hello
Have you eaten yet?
Bring something back for me
Oh, it?s you?
WKW: I need to have a clear sense
of each character?s history
What did they feel
when they came to Argentina?
Each character offers
an individual storyline
I remember very well!
Tony?s character attempted suicide
...and we saved his life
He was brought to the hospital
Shooting the scene
was quite scary at first
Tony was wheeled in on a stretcher
Blood everywhere
Everyone was very nervous
All the doctors and nurses
were scrambling to save him
The director?s idea was
that I had a hopeless crush on Tony
A hopeless crush
I was jealous...
...of his relationship with Leslie
They like each other, right?
So the main thing he asked me
to express was jealousy
That was the director?s idea
Your friend will come
to pick you up?
If you eat spicy food...
...your scars won?t heal properly
It?s you!
I have to go
Bye!
You made me so happy!
You have so much
to talk about with her?
You?re visiting?
I thought doctors visited,
not nurses
Why are you here?
Where?s Ho Po-Wing?
He?s not here
What do you want?
Never mind, I just wanted to
get something back
What?
It doesn?t matter, never mind
Unbelievable!
Is he okay?
Don?t you know that he?s dead?
Ho Po-Wing!
Have you forgotten your name?
You?re Lai Yiu-Fai...
...and I?m Ho Po-Wing!
You know why I kept your passport?
I wanted to keep your name forever
I don?t care
if you use my name or not
But at least
you?ll never forget it
WKW: This isn?t the way
I want the film to be
I?m still not sure what I do want
So I?ll keep looking
He could have both identities...
Leslie could be Ho Po-Wing as well
So he loves his own mirror image,
is that it?
Just like this
Leslie Cheung in drag as a woman
If it doesn?t work,
we won?t show it to anyone
The idea was to tell...
...the story of these two people
But I know...
...we don?t have enough time
to do that
So this is becoming
more focused on Tony
Tony: That line
??We can start over??...
... cuts two ways!
Are we going to start the film
all over again?
WKW: The first idea...
...was to start with Tony arriving
in Argentina
The airport cops tell him
his father is in trouble
He?s there to look for
his father?s one-time lover
And it turns out
this person was a man
Then he finds Leslie
in Buenos Aires...
...and tries to learn
the truth about his dad
At first, the local
production house was fine
But then they began overcharging
If someone wanted $5000
for use of a location...
...they?d quote us $7-8000
They thought the director
was rolling in cash...
...and shooting a kung-fu movie
They didn?t even know
what we were shooting
I kept getting threats
They wouldn?t let us shoot
in some areas
We?d hear ??There?ll be a bomb
if you shoot there??
People would turn up carrying guns
Or they?d warn us that
if the actors went on the street...
...there might be a nasty accident
So we had to stop
We had a story about two people...
But Leslie had to leave
for his concerts in Hong Kong
The story wasn?t finished...
What to do?
I know how to do this shot of Tony
on his own
But when we finish for the day...
...I go off alone
I sit in a coffee-shop,
thinking how to solve the problem
After Leslie Cheung left,
shooting halted for quite a time
The crew had expected...
...a three-week shoot...
...but it dragged on and on
You could see all of them
were longing to get back home
Sometimes there was no filming
for a week or more
Everyone was bored rigid
I said I couldn?t stand it,
I wanted to go home
I dreamt of my mother...
...I was scared!
I really missed everyone back home
I really missed them
I didn?t want to be there on my own
The others felt the same
Maybe it?s because we were all
so far from home
Perhaps
it?s because of the distance
If we weren?t so far away...
...maybe we wouldn?t feel that way
Perhaps Wong Kar-Wai
did it deliberately
Maybe he wanted us all to feel
as if we were dying!
WKW: Actually the shoot went
on much longer than expected
We were supposed to finish
by September
But we kept on deferring
and deferring it...
Deferring and deferring
Fuck
Solutions always present themselves
...at the very last minute
Maybe they aren?t even
real solutions...
But something always turns up
to solve the problem
The Central Restaurant
is kind of a legend
During the shooting,
I fell asleep one night
...and woke to find
my face half paralysed
I went to the Central
to find an acupuncturist
He told me I was apoplectic
and began treating me
with his needles
I recovered in about a fortnight
Every single night...
...there are mahjong games
in the restaurant
You can meet everyone
from Chinese doctors...
to the owners of garment factories
At the time...
...I considered starting
our story there
Argentina is nice...
...Iots of girls, really a lot
I?ve lived in Argentina
for nine years
I married 81/ 2 years ago
We have four children
My ideal man...
...will take me out to the movies
I love watching movies
WKW: I felt very warm towards
the people I met there
Looking at the restaurant?s owner,
I wondered how it would be
if I myself had to start over
in Buenos Aires
What would it be like?
Young people should be adventurous
...study and work hard
It was very tough when we arrived
in Argentina
But we didn?t mind
Young people can put up with that
if they have to
Things will get better and better
It was the same for my daughter
when she arrived here
But she picked up the language
and got the hang of things
I came up with another storyline,
about a young guy
He comes to Argentina, broke...
...and works in the restaurant
In the kitchen he meets someone
very much like Tony Leung
And his story starts to emerge
Where are you heading?
Dunno...
As far as I can go
Aren?t your folks
worried about you?
This was my idea
They don?t even know where I am
Will you ever go back?
Chang Chen plays a kid
from somewhere else entirely
He?s very much like
a young Leslie Cheung
He has a real youthful energy...
...which drives Tony on
No mahjong game today...
Don?t feel like it
Wanna come for a drink?
You can go!
I?m okay!
What?
Are you throwing up?
Here, I?ll help you
This is 6 November 1996, evening
I?m in a station snack-bar
As far from Taipei as
it?s possible to be
I just had two hotdogs,
they tasted really bad
And a Coke
There?s a guy sitting next to me
I really want to talk to him
He?s probably the last friend
I?ll make in this city
Hello!
Strange he?s so kind to me!
Dunno what he?s saying...
...but it doesn?t matter
It?s like he?s wishing me
a good trip
Oh, this hotdog tastes so bad...
Twenty minutes out of
Buenos Aires...
...I got into a fight
I was in the mood for it
Where are you heading?
Aren?t your folks
worried about you?
Can I talk to you?
No special reason
I just want to hear your voice
I saw you once...
...do you always sing in cars?
You were singing when I saw you
I always wanted to know
what song it was
I guess
I wasn?t close enough to hear
I couldn?t hear
I wondered...
...about your voice
But didn?t see you again
So I thought...
...I?d never know
You know...
...I saw you the day I arrived here
Can we move forward forever?
Near ?the end of the world?...
...the southernmost tip
...I wondered
if we?d keep going or turn back
This ?edge of the world? is...
...where the kid?s story can end
Chang Chen: I promised Ah Fai...
...that I?d leave his sadness here
But I can?t make out
what he said that night
Maybe it didn?t record right
His voice isn?t there
There?s just
a couple of strange sounds
WKW: He want his journey to go on,
but it can?t
So he just stays here
It?s as if time has stopped here,
by the water
Tony:1 January 1997
I?m ready to make a new start
I want to go back to Hong Kong
But before going home...
I decide
I must see the Iguazu Falls
You know the giant waterfall?
We went there twice
The second time
I figured out how to escape
First, I?d book myself
on a flight back to Hong Kong
When we got back to Buenos Aires
on a domestic flight...
I?d be first off the plane
and I?d dash for a taxi
I?d go straight
to the international airport
I?d leave the others...
...to take care of my luggage
That was how I planned
to escape back to Hong Kong!
Finally, of course, I didn?t do it
I had to alter my flight booking
more than ten times
Every time I asked Wong Kar-Wai
when I could leave...
...he?d say
??Maybe another ten days or so??
WKW: The filming dragged on and on
Everyone was homesick
We have worked together for long...
...so they all knew
the film wasn?t yet finished
They could see I had problems
But no-one said anything
Under such pressure...
...I always wanted...
...to go off for walks
Sometimes I wonder...
...why I went to
such a place to shoot
Then I started thinking...
I have the thought
I really wanted it all to be over
The sooner we all get home,
the happier we?ll be
One ending we considered...
...was Tony at the waterfall
Maybe he dies there, maybe not
Then I realized...
...he should go back to Hong Kong
Our own experience taught me that
It would have been hard...
...if they?d all left together
But they left one by one...
...so that was better
They all wanted to get home...
...for Christmas and New Year
I knew that day would come
A few days after the last one left
...I moved back to Taiwan
It was like...
I felt a sense of loss
And I thought I might feel better
...if I tried to do...
...something else in Taiwan
When they?d all gone...
...I knew I had to go back
It?s rare for me to make up
my own mind about things
Usually I ask my parents for advice
But that time...
...I knew what I had to do
The assistant director Johnny
asked me to do continuity
I was plunged straight into it
I?d never thought about working
in movies before
But this experience
got me interested
It was my first time...
...to work with a lot of Chinese
I like going to places
where nobody knows me
Nobody knows who I am...
Nobody knows my story...
...or where I?m from
I like that kind of feeling
So I really like
Chang Chen?s character in the film
Don?t know why...
...but that?s how I feel
If I meet another Chinese
person abroad...
...I don?t feel close to them
I don?t need Chinese friends...
...or Chinese shops or anything
I simply don?t need them
I guess it?s a way of...
...making myself feel stronger
I miss these things a bit...
...but I don?t need them
And I do feel stronger for it
Tony: Are you Chinese?
Where are you heading?
Can you sing for me?
Are you Chinese?
Where are you heading?
Give me a coin for the phone?
I need another one
Me again!
It?s my excuse
for staying here with you!
It?s me!
How are you doing?
Right, you?re leaving
to see the waterfall?
Hold me!
Why?
Nothing, just making them jealous!
I?ll drop you off
No need
Are you okay?
I?m fine...
You?
I?m okay
WKW: Finally she takes a job
near the Falls
And once in a while she wonders...
...if he ever made it there or not
That?s her story
Happy Together...
...is like a full stop
The end of a certain period in life
We all have our own calendars
but the film is a watershed
for all of us
We?ll all remember...
...everything we went through
As for the people who helped us...
Aili still works on movies
in Argentina
James and Laurita are in Europe now
In late January...
...I found myself a job in Taiwan
It was translation work
Meanwhile they were
still shooting the film
The newspaper said
they were filming in Taipei
So I went along to see them
that night
Films do come from life
But they?re not my whole life
I?m getting better
at keeping them separate
Not like before
I?d been working in Taiwan
for a few months...
...when Happy Together
had its premiere
I was so pleased...
...to see them that day!
After the screening...
I decided
to move back to Argentina