Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 1997, 96m

One of the most searing romances of the 1990s, Wong’s raw, lushly stylized portrayal of a relationship in breakdown casts Hong Kong superstars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as a couple traveling through Argentina and locked in a turbulent pattern of infatuation and destructive jealousy. Capturing the dynamics of a queer relationship with empathy and complexity on the cusp of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong—when the country’s LGBTQ community suddenly faced an uncertain future—Wong crafts a feverish portrait of the life cycle of a love affair that’s by turns devastating and delirious. Shot by Christopher Doyle in both luminous monochrome and saturated color, Happy Together is an intoxicating exploration of displacement and desire. An NYFF35 selection. A Janus Films release. Presented by New York Asian Film Festival.