Buenos Aires Zero Degree

Co-directors Kwan and Lee (a video-art team; Kwan also shot Stanley Kwan's recent features) did go to Argentina to retrace some of the steps Wong Kar-Wai took when making Happy Together and did interview some of the participants in that fraught adventure, but their film is nothing like a conventional 'Making of'. Around three-quarters of Buenos Aires Zero Degree is composed of unused rushes from Wong's film: abandoned narrative twists, alternative endings, and a generous sampling of Shirley Kwan's performance in a role cut from the film. There's even a 'forbidden' glimpse of Leslie Cheung in drag, shown in negative. Anyone who knows Happy Together itself will find here real insights into Wong's aleatory methods of storytelling and film-making.