Three Times

Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2005

A couple years ago I saw a rental copy of this film sitting ontop of my Grandpa's television. I had read about it and asked him what he thought. He furrowed his brow and like a good sport hesitantly told me that it was "interesting." The only Hou picture I've seen prior to this is "Millenium Mambo" (2001), a solid if slightly dull foray into disaffectedly "cool" Taiwanese 20-somethings solipsistically navigating newfound adulthood. This time around Hou takes on three different relationships in three different eras (hence the title). The first, a tale of longing set in the 60's, comes off as wannabe Wong Kar-Wai with long slow takes and fetishistic languor. The second segment, set in a turn of the century brothel, suffers grossly from the unnecessary pretension of replacing all dialogue with title cards a la silent cinema. The final section takes place in the present, and is similar in tone and content to "Millenium Mambo." A young photographer vacillates between two women, one of which is a seductive rock singer. This last portion is a little cringe-inducing with Hou's painfully tacky ideas of what's hip with the kids. There's a solid stylistic thread unifying the three parts but the film comes off as leaden and overwrought, neither beautiful, poignant, or poetic despite it's best efforts. A clunker indeed.