Apr 11 2010
Watch Three Times Online
The brilliance of Hou’s magnificently handsome meditation on care for and longing, of course, is the conceit of using the same two actors in each sequence. And you couldn’t ask for better performers than Chang and Shu, who are gripping regardless of the age they’re portraying, particularly in the nostalgic, near-wordless “A Time for Treasure” segment, steeped in a sultry `60s atmosphere. Hou’s other shining stroke is to compose the next portion, which unfolds in a brothel during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, a short quiet film, with hypnotic music and title cards. Taken as a whole, “Three Times” is nothing short of a rapturous, romantic masterpiece-in triplicate.
I can understand that without definite historical knowledge and an conception of the modern culture of Taiwan, the second and the third part could be somewhat difficult to related. But the first fable is absolutely a masterpiece. It contains minimum location (if you would call it a area), minimum dialogue (no more than 10 words in each conversation), yet it makes you drop in like with the characters. Is it possible to blame the critics for calling it anything other than “magic”?