By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Starring: Chang Chen | Di Mei | Liao Su-jen | Mei Fang | Shu Qi
Original language title: Zui hao de shi guang
Country: taiwan
Year: 2006
Running time: 139
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459666/combined
Bruce says: “Hou Hsaio-hsien covers three different decades within the last 100 years. The actors Qi Shu and Chen Chang play the lead characters in all three vignettes. ‘A Time for Love’ begins with a game of pool while the Platters sing ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.’ It is a simple tale of romance between two shy people. When May leaves the pool room where they met Chen tracks her down going from place to place all over Taiwan. Their consummation of affection involves hand holding wile ‘Rain and Tears’ plays in the background. ‘A Time for Freedom’ has a dual context, Taipei winning its freedom from Japan and the purchase of a pregnant prostitute’s freedom so that she may become a concubine. In the final episode, ‘A Time for Youth,’ an epileptic night club singer has going affairs with a girlfriend and a boyfriend. What exactly is the relationship among the vignettes? Each period seem to be identifiable by a unique theme.
“The film is heavily textured. In ‘A Time for Love’ out of focus plants on the patio outside the pool room provide a textural backdrop for the pool players. May wears a scalloped skirt, turquoise silk pants, a chrysanthemum print blouse, a white cotton blouse with a clinched waist and gathered sleeves. Chen wears op art shirts and tailored form-fitting trousers. Taxi boats criss-cross between islands as the lovers-to-be go in different directions. ‘A Time for Love’ is a period of relative innocence between decades of corrupt and worldly behavior.
“A Time for Freedom’ displays texture as elegant craftsmanship with great attention to detail. Loose fitting clothing is made of opulent silk brocade detailed with exquisite silk embroidery. Jing serenades the brothel customers with her mandolin. She must be the most exotic of the Taipei courtesans. Her main customer is a journalist and freedom fighter from a wealthy family. He is generous in helping to buy another woman’s freedom but when Jing questions him regarding ‘her case’ he remains silent in spite of the obvious love and affection they have for one another. ‘A Time for Freedom’ is a decade of great passion surrounded by many rules. It is filmed as a silent film with no audible dialogue, only subtitles.
“In ‘A Time for Youth’ the texture of modern life is not in the loose fitting clothing which is largely nondescript in spite of the detail in the expensive designer clothes. The interiors and clothing of Taipei today are austere but there is lots of digitized texture in the computer screens and in the neon pattern on the streets. ‘A Time for Youth’ is a time of nonchalance where anything goes, but the people seem less connected than they were in prior decades.
“As in most Hou Hsaio-hsien films there is little narrative in THREE TIMES to hold on to so it is up to the viewer to connect the dots in meaningful ways. In the end it is all about the mood and how it strikes you; each of us probably see a different film. 4.5 cats”
Chris says: “From one triptych to another: instead of interweaving three stories, however, Hou Hsiao-Hsien presents them as separate entities centering around a pool-hall in 1966, a brothel in 1911 and modern day Taipei. Each tale explores a male/female relationship and the characters and stylistic differences vary to the point that I did not recognize that each section featured the same actor and actress. The 1966 story is by far the most involving: it follows a slowly blossoming courtship. Framed with eloquently employed period music and beautiful cinematography, it builds towards a sweet, emotionally rewarding climax. The most interesting thing about the 1911 story, however, is the director’s decision to present it as a silent film (without any Guy Maddin-style jocularity); unfortunately, its obtuse narrative jars with the mood set in place by the first story. The third one, about a lustful affair between a music photographer and his girlfriend, is more obtuse still, strongly reminiscent of the dreamlike panorama of the director’s MILLENIUM MAMBO. It’s best to look at THREE TIMES as three good-to-great short films, all with their own merits. That Hou isn’t entirely successful at making known all the possible echoes between these tales is what renders the entire project merely pleasant rather than transcendent. 3.5 cats”
Michael says: “Like Thom Fitzgerald’s 3 NEEDLES, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s THREE TIMES is a triptych of stories. However the stories presented in THREE TIMES take place in three different time periods; the 1960’s, the turn of the century, and today, in that order. The two lead roles are played by the same lead actors. The films grow increasingly more cynical and less romantic, from the idealistic romance of the 60’s, to a more harsh-edged modern look at relationships. Correspondence seems to be a central theme in each story, as is music. The couples in each movie could represent the same pair of souls throughout time, starting with an unfulfilled relationship involving a courtesan and a client, flowing through the innocent sweetness of a romance between a service man and a pool-hall girl in the 1960’s. The story concludes with a photographer and a musician, both of whom are involved in other relationships that seem to be bound together regardless. The slow-paced film leaves much unsaid, and the distinct execution of the three tales is occasionally opaque and difficult to follow, yet innovative and intriguing. This is a film that needs more than a single viewing to fully appreciate. 3 ½ cats.”