Hou Hsiao-hsien is a director who plays on little moments, looks, feelings and emotions. He’s the modern equivalent of say, Dreyer or Ozu (though I don’t think his style is as locked down as those two masters). In fact, in Three Times we see Hou exploring three different styles with three different vignettes. The film revolves around relationships set in different time periods – 1966, 1911 (during Taiwan’s resistance to Japanese rule) and 2005. Played by the same actors (principally Shu Qi and Chang Chen) the stories explore the differences in relationships, social conventions and role of women. The film’s points come from having the three films alongside each other – this is definitely a film where the whole is more important than the parts.

That said, the parts themselves are worthy of analysis. The first, set in 1966, is a wonderfully off-beat and touching romance. The style makes wonderful use of the eyes – in fact, you’ll understand all you’ll need by simply watching the actors’ faces. Hou doesn’t rely on dialogue to convey this romance – rather the expressions and gentle camera movement achieves this. There was also an excellent use of music. The second story is filmed in the style of Hou’s Flowers of Shanghai, with tight golden exteriors. This part of the story was problematic – the style in itself was interesting. However, he filmed the story silently (to create a sense of authenticity) but is let down by a shocking piano score. The use of Chinese music was far more effective, but the middle section of the second story, dare I say it, was rather dull. The third story was back to an effective evocation of emotions and story.

There is almost a sense that Hou wasn’t able to create a convincing evocation of different time periods (due to Taiwan’s modernisation no doubt), so in that sense the first two stories (especially the second) have a very precise interior focus (though he does have a strong focus on doors). The third story certainly opens up to show modern day Taiwan – and also a sense of problematic liberation for the female character. Hou is a great director who intimately manages to connect wider social concerns like Taiwan specifically to his stories. This is another wonderfully interesting story with a style which in itself is worthy of the ticket price.—Brannavan Gnanalingam