Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B-
Hou
Hsiao-Hsien gained international attention for his film Millennium Mambo
(2001, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and has a tendency to want to dig into
the history of Taiwan and its changes. After
covering the territory in conventional ways, his interest (and maybe obsession)
is driving him forward to try new and more complex ways of examining the
country and the idea of history itself. Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang, 2005) reunites the director with female lead
Qu Shu, playing three different ladies living private lives in three different
eras and times. It also deals with each
personal love life with true consideration and honesty.
The
script (co-written by Hsiao-Hsien and Chu Tien-wen) chooses 1911, 1966 and
2005. The earliest era is handled like a
silent film, but with sound and color, though naturally, beautifully and
without tricks that try to make it seem old.
The 1966 period is interesting in its suggestions of revolution that do
and do not work, while 2005 is the modern Taiwan and even the later are not too
talky. Instead, the film decides to let
the visuals and feel of each era work on the audience, resulting in more hits
than misses in conveying a sense of time and place most films would botch.
At first,
I was put in mind of one of the big Hollywood small-film disasters of 2005, Lake House with Sandra Bullock and
Keanu Reeves. It was a single love story
split by only a few years and very badly with the under-thought device of a
goofy “magic mailbox” in which the two can communicate. The hope was for another Ghost, but audiences were scared away rightly by bad reviews and
the terror of pure boredom. Another
problem there was the lack of cinematic space, but cinematographer Liao
Ching-Song does some beautiful work here, giving the film a rich feel in all
eras as it reaches its climax of what is being said. Hsiao-Hsien just keeps getting better as a
filmmaker and Three Times is so
good, you’ll want to see it…
Well, you
get the idea.
The
letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is all in color for the three time periods and is
not bad, but lacks some detail by not being anamorphically enhanced, while
subtitles spill into the bottom black bar, a problem if trying to watch it on a
16 X 9/1.78 X 1 monitor or projector.
The Dolby Digital Taiwanese 5.1 mix is not bad, but has limited
surrounds, though music always sounds good.
I liked the choice of some of the U.S. Pop hits and classics. There are no extras, but you can read our
review on Millennium Mambo at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1436/Millennium+Mambo
- Nicholas Sheffo
