Far out ahead of his numerous imitators, Wong Kar-Wai is pushing forward into new directions and setting himself new challenges. Almost all of Happy Together was shot in Buenos Aires - as far away from Hong Kong as it is possible to get - and the story centers on two men in a gay relationship. Wong uses the setting and the characters to force himself to see with fresh eyes, The results is his most thoughtful and moving film yet. Despite what the increasingly absurd Korean Ethics Committee says, it′s not a ′gay film′ but a film about relationships in which the main characters happen to be gay. Soon after arriving in Argentina, Ho and Lai break up, Ho disappears into the tango bars of Buenos Aires, turning the odd trick for pin-money. Broke and more upset than he realises, Lai takes odd jobs to earn money for his ticket home. Pestered by Ho, he slowly picks up the pieces of his life with unwitting help from Chang, a young backpacker from Taiwan.There are no metaphors, but the central motifs (partings and reunions, attempts to start over, irreconcilable differences) have a lot to do with the mood of Hong Kong in the summer of 1997. The film has exceptionally lyrical cinematography from Chris Doyle and a career-best performance from Tony Leung as Lai. (Tony Rayns)