New York Times critic A.O. Scott writes in his
Cannes Journal today, "I have written earlier about the folly of coming to Cannes expecting masterpieces, but no sooner had I weaned myself of this habit than a masterpiece was staring me in the face. At least that's how it feels at the moment. A movie like David Cronenberg's
History of Violence, one of the high points up until today, is an example of excellent filmmaking. [Hou Hsiao-hsien's]
Three Times exists on another level entirely; this is why cinema exists. With its slow, oblique, beautifully shot scenes, and its stories that are at once utterly simple and full of resonance and implication, it creates an emotional and sensual effect that is something like falling in love. Or perhaps making love, given the afterglow that seemed to float through the Palais after the screening."
According to the Festival de Cannes Web site:
Three Times relates a series of three love stories which, although they take place at different points in time (1966, 1911 and 2005), are played by the same couple of actors (Shu Qi and Chang Chen).
"Today in Taiwan, you can't find a single trace of what daily life was like there in the 1960s, whether you're talking about objects or architecture," said Hou Hsiao-hsien at a press conference about the film. "That's why, for the first story, I chose to focus on the characters. And, for the same reason, in the second part, which takes place in 1911, I shot the whole thing using a single set. As for the third part, it may seem more fragmented, because I wanted to express the disorder which, for me, characterizes contemporary Taiwanese reality...
"The best moments we've experienced are lost forever," he added. "The only way to retrieve them is to call upon your memory. Cinema is a tool which enables me to preserve these memories. I think that everything a person experiences is liable to become one of his own future 'fondest memories,' and that's why I wanted to shoot these short sequences, which capture different moments."
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posted by Steve Gallagher @ 5/20/2005 10:26:00 AM
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