Best movie of this year hands down!

Thanks for the memories!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I really loved this movie. Many people didn't and I really understand why : it's a very slow movie. Everything takes time, everything is long and you don't really see where the director really wants to go. He follows this girl. She appears to us at the beginning at the film, walking in a very long corridor, in a slow motion and on pop music. As this girl is impersonated by Shu Qi, she is absolutely beautiful. This girl smokes, she seems a little bit sad and you don't really know what is her story. The voice of a girl tells you about the relationships this girl had in the past and this voice says that, when she speaks, it's in 2010 (ten years later after when the action takes place). You never really understand why this voice says that. You never really understand what this girl wants and what is her past (although you have some informations during the film), you just see her live and it's absolutely fascinating and hypnotic. It's hard to say but you see how much Hou Hsia Hsien is fascinated by beauty, time and modern life. His fascination for time is also present in "Three Times". In this movie, everything is normal, nothing is spectacular and incredible (about the plot, the sets or whatever) but everything is poetic, mysterious and hypnotic. It's the kind of feeling you have when you see someone and you don't know why, but this person fascinates you. It's the same kind of feeling. It's fascinating as when you see someone's life and just let this person free to do what she wants, you just look at this person. It's a very good movie although fascination is something very personal.

This film is made in the slow style recalling some of the naturalistic elements of the new wave, or all the many moviemakers who have tried to copy suchfilmmaking. The film is the story of a rather vapid, not very bright girl who shacks up with her high school boyfriend, an utter loser with no life. She then gets involved with some very low level criminals some of whom seem to be ratherdecent sorts. Then, it's over. Films like this always seem to be searching, trying to find something to compel our interest. This movie fails totally. Some of the scenes feel improvised and the actors do O.K., but this is an uninteresting film about the uninteresting. So how did this get made? Well, star Shi Qi is truely a stunning beauty who seems like she could act at least a bit if ever given something to play. Beyond that, we have an artistic fraud here of the first order.

This wonderful film clings to my mind since I've seen it. This is not due to the story, but for the visual concept. At first, the story seems to be the usual fantasy insecure parents have about their teenage children getting lost in a world they don't know any more - in this case, a fragile young girl spending her time in the bars and clubs of nocturnal Taipei. But it is much more a coming-of-age story, told in a melancholy mood from a future perspective, mourning and accepting all the hardships it took. This is what the visuals of the film tell, more than the dialog or plot: Each scene is filmed in a single shot. Hou, or rather Mark Li, used available light most of the time, which actually produces meaning here: The scenes in bars and clubs are shot using very light-sensitive, so images are very grainy, dark, but warm and very color-intensive - one seems to be inside a protective womb, which becomes gradually oppressive. The forces that keep the girl inside are represented by her neurotic boy friend, who watches her constantly and keeps her from making exams.After she becomes a stripper, she meets Jack, a gangster but very decent guy who gradually leads her out of this world - in one scene he actually drives her out of a dark tunnel into bright daylight in his car. The outside scenes, given less sensitive film stock, are much clearer, but it's winter most of the time - contrary to the bar scenes it's cold, gray and white, but clear. The ending promises a life in the outside world, with occasional relief provided by movies. Shouldn't we all appreciate this? (... and the soundtrack is wonderful...)

Right, this one gets 7.1? Let me put it this way: if this would have been an American film, it would be somewhere in the upper half of the bottom 100 on these pages. But it's Asian, so hey, it must be good!!!Indeed... What we have here is an example of a film without a story. Well, apparently it's about a young woman. She has a "relationship" with a young man (really?). Why? Who cares? He gets mad, she gets mad, he gets mad, he wants to have sex, she doesn't want to, she walks out, she comes back, etc. And it goes on and on like this for about two hours. (119 minutes!!!!!!) Oh yeah, she also meets two brothers and another guy, and that's about it. Anything happening? Nope. Any insights? Nada. Any emotions? What did you expect? What about some real good acting then? Nah, have to disappoint you. Hey, but don't you think the techno music is great? Yes, it suits the film very well, because it also goes on and on and on... I could write a review too that goes on and on. Instead I'm thinking of writing a letter of complaint to the makers of this film. I thought the first film to receive a 1/10 from me on the IMDB would have been an old monster movie, but at least these films provide some laughs from time to time. This one doesn't, except for a hysterical one when you realize you have spend your money on watching this. As I said: 1/10. (why can't we give 0/10 anyway?)