I recently acquired the Japanese Collector's Edition BluRay of Happy Together, which was released in 2012 but has since gone out of print. There's a new 2 disc edition which now also includes Buenos Aires Zero Degree but - as far as I know - lacks the Japanese Theatrical version of the main feature which was sourced from a 35mm print. I will provide a thorough review soon.
Upon comparing lengths, I discovered that the Japanese theatrical version runs longer than the current remaster which I have already talked about here. So I did a side-by-side comparison of both versions and discovered differences between the two, which you will find below. (In this article, I will not talk about the differences in the color scheme nor about the differing titles between old and new versions, as I already have done that in the old article).
In fact, the differences I talk about here are found the between Japanese version and all the other versions I have, including the remasters from the early 2000s and later 2000s as well as the German DVD which is sourced from a (German?) theatrical print. I call these other versions the "International cut", as this is how this cut is labeled in the 10th Anniversary Edition from Hongkong.
International Cut
In the International Cut, the shot of Tony Leung standing outside of the Bar Sur and watching Leslie and his friends is directly followed by Tony standing on the opposite side of the street, eating a sandwich and eventually noticing that Leslie and his company leave the bar. [This happens around the 9 minute mark in the current remastered version, available on BluRay from Kino International.]
Shortly after, Tony is in his bathroom at home, pondering about what he has witnessed earlier that night and eventually punches his mirror. During that scene, we get a voice-over containing his thoughts. [Begins 10:07 on said source.]
Japanese Cut
In the Japanese version, there's a bunch of additional stuff between the shot of Tony outside of Bar Sur and him eating the sandwich.
First, we see him entering a shop, talking to the vender in Spanish. Then he grabs a beer, but goes back to the fridge, puts back the beer and goes for a pineapple juice instead [Pineapples? Chungking Express?], while we get a voice-over which ends with "I just wanted to return to Hong Kong". This part of the voice-over is identical to the one in the international version (see above), but the beginning is different, unfortunately, I don't speak Cantonese, so I don't have a clue what he says.
UPDATE (2021-02-02): A very kind member of the forum at bluray.com has translated Lai Yu Fai's monologue for me: "When I first got here, I thought Argentina was really big. But it's
actually really small. I ran into him again that night. But I didn't
even think about starting over with him. I just wanted to go back to
Hong Kong." Thank you very much, Dylan!
After that, there is one shot of him eating his sandwich.
Then we cut back to the bar, where the couple is still dancing and Leslie and his friends cheer for them. What follows afterwards is identical to the International version, it's the same shot of Tony eating and watching Leslie and his friends leave.
The scene with Tony in the bathroom doesn't contain a voice over, it remains completely silent.
Conclusion
While the extra material we get in the Japanese version isn't all that essential, it's been great fun to discover these differences in the two cuts. I would really like to know what Tony says in the Japanese version. If anyone reads this who is capable of speaking Cantonese, please comment and I will provide you with a sound sample or video of that scene!
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