Three Times
Written and directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien
IFC
2006
Rating:


If "Cafι Lumiθre" was Hou Hsia-hsien's homage to Yasujiro Ozu, Hou's "Three Times" could be considered an homage to himself, without the narcissism or repetition that implies. "Three Times" finds Hou re-examining the themes of his masterworks "Flowers of Shanghai," "The Puppetmaster," "Millennium Mambo" and "Goodbye South, Goodbye" to create a singular work that evokes Taiwan's sense of history and the elusiveness of love.

Hou's triptych of love stories begins with, appropriately, "A Time for Love." As The Platters' "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" plays, Hou's camera languorously watches May ("Millennium Mambo's" Qi Shu) play pool with Chen ("Eros'" Chen Chang). This is the only time Chen has spent with May, but still he asks if he can write to May while he's away serving in the army. May shyly accepts. When Chen is allowed to go on leave, he returns in search of May, only to discover she has left town, prompting Chen to engage in a cross-country trip to pool halls in hopes of finding her again. Not much happens, but Hou infuses "A Time for Love" with a sense of yearning as intense as the best of Wong Kar-Wai. The climactic, clumsy touching of hands and the sharing of an umbrella are heartrending moments of unbound romanticism.

"A Time for Freedom" is "A Time for Love's" antithesis. Set in 1911 during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the silent "A Time for Freedom" follows the non-romance between courtesan Ah Mei (Qi) and revolutionary Chang (Chen). Hou's mise-en-scθne and use of intertitles instead of dialogue is nearly suffocating in its artifice, but it's intentionally so. As an indentured prostitute who has fallen in love with a man unwilling or unable to free her, Ah Mei symbolizes a country without autonomy and countrymen willing to liberate it. Qi is extraordinary in this sequence, portraying heartbreak with tragic restraint.

In "A Time for Youth," which is set in the present, the characters are able to consummate their passion, but they're even more disaffected than Chang and Ah Mei. The alienation between Chen's photographer and Qi's bisexual, epileptic punk singer is caused by their reliance on technology to maintain relationships. Text messages, cell phone calls and e-mails are exchanged, but person-to-person contact is awkward and chaotic. The diffuse, nebulous nature of the sequence gives it its vitality. There's still a sense of romanticism here, which is all the more frustrating for the characters because love is in their grasps, but the technological walls blocking them are of their own design.

Posted Friday, May 26, 2006

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/three.times