Sightlines · reception
How Happy Together was received
1997 · Wong Kar-Wai · Happy Together on Sightlines
The arc
It premiered at Cannes 1997 to real acclaim — Wong won Best Director — but for years it sat in the shadow of Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love. Now it's fully canonized as one of the great queer films of the '90s, its stock rising with every rewatch cycle.
What’s debated
The perennial fan debate: is this — not In the Mood for Love — actually Wong Kar-Wai's best film, and is it the most devastating breakup movie ever made?
Its footprint
"Let's start over" has become shorthand for every doomed on-again-off-again relationship, and the kitchen tango and the Iguazu Falls lamp are among the most gif'd and referenced images in all of '90s cinema.
Where it stands
A pillar of the queer film canon and a Letterboxd heartbreak favorite — the 'you haven't lived until this wrecks you' entry in the Wong Kar-Wai must-see list.
Did you know? Wong Kar-Wai won Best Director at Cannes 1997 for this film — the first Hong Kong filmmaker ever to take that prize.