Our next film takes place on:
Tuesday 16th October
Little Theatre
7.45pm

Three Times

Hou Hsiao-Hsien/Taiwan/2005/116 minutes

The more Hou Hsiao-Hsien movies I see, the more I admire the way he is able to make a movie his way without somehow caving in to populist concerns. Even Stanley Kubrick once said that he wished he could make a film as popular as those by Steven Spielberg, but I can't imagine Hou going anywhere near a notion like that. He makes movies to observe, explore, study, and record -- average Joe won't find traditional "entertainment" here, but if he's patient and open-minded enough he might find something more rewarding. In the case of Three Times, Hou examines and contrasts the challenges of romantic coupling using three different time periods, using the same two lead actors for each story (Shu Qi and Chang Chen). It starts in 1966 with an idealistic, soft-spoken valentine of a pursuit; the middle tale is a 1911 tale about a love that can not be between a courtesan and an activist brothel client, charmingly presented as a color silent movie (complete with speech cards!); and the final one takes place in 2005, almost too predictably about how today's callous youth can't make any real lasting connections despite being ironically surrounded by instant communication technology. Both Shu and Chang shine throughout, each playing three different characters so believably you might forget they're the same actors. Naturally, all of this is done with Hou's most important character -- the country of Taiwan -- as support. His work gains significance due to his specifically tying this theme of love to Taiwan in particular, as opposed to just proposing a general essay on love -- it creates a meaningful context from which the events are naturally set forth. Always, Hou reminds us that cultural, political, and regional (location and time) specificity is an essential ingredient to contextualizing, and thus imagining and fully understanding, any local history.

Jeffrey Chien, windows to the movies

Trivia

The Chinese title of the film, Aka Zui Hao De Shi Guang translates literally as "the best of moments".

Save the Odeon!
Please sign the e-petition available at Chester.com, and watch the video on the recent public meeting. The aim is to secure the re-establishment of a cinema and associated facilities in the heart of the historic centre of Chester.

The campaign group believes that this facility is vital in contributing to the social, educational, cultural, and economic well being of Chester: its residents and its visitors.

The group also believes that cinema is vital to the marketing of Chester as a ‘must see' tourist destination, and that the lack of such a facility will weaken Chester's attractiveness, in comparison to other historic cities such as York, and damage its economic vitality.

It also believes that other cities have demonstrated that the independent cinema operator can provide an economically viable service that satisfies all of the above statements and criteria.

Please visit http://www.chesterfilmfans.co.uk/mailing_list/news_071014.htm for an online version of this issue.