zui hao de shi guang

We watched a film by a Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao Hsien, last week which, despite earlier skepticism, I really enjoyed and thought often about afterwards. The title in English is "Three Times" but the Chinese translates more as "Best of Time". The title was simple enough that even I could read it. Yay!

So when my parents came for a visit a couple of days ago, I asked my dad (a Taiwanese) if he knew of the director (he did), and recommended it for him to watch it. It's a series of three love stories taken place in 1966, 1911, and 2005. The theme of each era is different and the relationships varies according to that era. 1966 shows an innocent youthful love, 1911, an unfulfilled love between a courtesan and her client, and 2005 a seemingly passionate yet somewhat lonely and empty love. As I watched my dad watch this film, I saw a huge grin on his face. So I said do you like it, and he said I can almost feel that time, 1966, when I was in high school. We were like that, he said, referring to the main male character in the movie. Quiet, reserved, cool - then he laughs, hahaha!
I've been to Taiwan numerous times but never quite saw the countryside the beautiful, serene, and romantic way depicted in the movie. To me, it was just hot, sticky, and boring. But to my dad, it seems to have brought back the feelings of his youth. He's 60 now, and a successful executive of a company. Despite his age, accomplishments, and a very business oriented mind, he still has that young boyish laugh, youthful silliness, and energetic attitude towards life. With those characteristics of him combined with a photo that I remember I saw of him from his teen days in Taiwan, I can almost picture him as a young man in that pool hall setting.

Just like my dad's youth was around 1966 and he could "almost feel it", I related closely to the 2005 story. How so many relationships were formed by whim. How body came before heart. How loneliness loomed regardless. I could "almost feel" that one.

Patrick saw the film in a completely different way. The main male and female characters in each story is played by the same actors. So the couple in 1966 is played by the same character as the couple in 1911 and 2005. He saw the film as a series of reincarnations which gives a whole different meaning to the film.

The pace is definitely slow. At the beginning, I thought I wouldn't be able to sit through it. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

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