Happy Times

Rating:
Summary: Simple Story about a Girl and a Middle-aged Man in China
Review: Very common error among Western viewers about "Happy Times" is the idea that this film is a comedy, or "basically comedy." And another mistake is to see this one as too light-weight, remembering the past works of the director Zhang Yimou, previously known for his collaboration with Gong Li (in "Red Sorghum" "Ju Dou" "Raise the Red Lantern" and others) and more recently for "The Road Home" starring beautiful Zhang Ziyi. Yes, "Happy Times" is often very funny; and yes, it is short and simple. But you should not miss the messages at the subliminal level.

The film stars a newcomer Dong Jie, formerly a student at a dance school in Beijing, as Wu Ying. Wu Ying is a blind girl, adopted by the reluctant step-mother, and living at her house while being treated very badly. Wu is just another trouble to the family, and she knows it.

Then, a middle-aged guy named Zhao steps in, as a possible husband to Wu's step-mother. Zhao, unemployed, is so desperate to marry her (step-mother), so keeps on lying about his social background, claiming he can offer plenty of money at the marriage, and even promises to "employ" Wu as one of staff at his imaginary hotel. Thus meet the two unlikely persons: a blind girl and a preposterously lying forty-something man.

We are to follow the relations between them; Zhao has to keep Wu "employed" even though she is a sulky girl, and the "hotel" exists no longer. However, Zhao, not an unkind chap, comes to feel sympathy for her while the girl Wu begins to understand what is going on around her.

I should not reveal more about the story except that though the whole framework of the film is that of comedy, the underlcurrent feelings are very tragic one, as you see in Zhang Yimou's recent works "Not One Less" and "The Road Home." The film unfolds its story very smoothly, thanks to the perfect performance of Zhao Benshan, to the bitter-sweet ending (more bitter than sweet, perhaps), and if you don't care for that kind of story, you will find another Zhang Ziyi in the strong acting of the heroine, of Dong Jie, who had to lose her weight by nearly 10 kilometers to prepare for the audition. Well, she looks natural, and is natural, but that's what you call good acting.

The most important thing might be that the director shrewdly inserts the shots and episodes that reflect the today's social conditions in China, the gaps between those who have, and have not. Ads for items like icecream or cosmetics are abound in the city, but they are out of the reach of the two main characters. But Yimou handles subtlely these matters, never letting them impede the film.

This is a simple tale, and might be too simple for some people. (If you want a more dynamic film, wait to see his next epic film "Hero" starring again Zhang Ziyi.) Still "Happy Times" offers vivid portrayal of two convincing characters and heart-wrenching (but heart-warming) moments. If you loved "Not One Less" or "The Road Home," definitely it is yours.

The film is co-produced by Terrence Malick, director "Thin Red Line."

Rating:
Summary: Simple Story about a Girl and a Middle-aged Man in China
Review: Very common error among Western viewers about "Happy Times" is the idea that this film is a comedy, or "basically comedy." And another mistake is to see this one as too light-weight, remembering the past works of the director Zhang Yimou, previously known for his collaboration with Gong Li (in "Red Sorghum" "Ju Dou" "Raise the Red Lantern" and others) and more recently for "The Road Home" starring beautiful Zhang Ziyi. Yes, "Happy Times" is often very funny; and yes, it is short and simple. But you should not miss the messages at the subliminal level.

The film stars a newcomer Dong Jie, formerly a student at a dance school in Beijing, as Wu Ying. Wu Ying is a blind girl, adopted by the reluctant step-mother, and living at her house while being treated very badly. Wu is just another trouble to the family, and she knows it.

Then, a middle-aged guy named Zhao steps in, as a possible husband to Wu's step-mother. Zhao, unemployed, is so desperate to marry her (step-mother), so keeps on lying about his social background, claiming he can offer plenty of money at the marriage, and even promises to "employ" Wu as one of staff at his imaginary hotel. Thus meet the two unlikely persons: a blind girl and a preposterously lying forty-something man.

We are to follow the relations between them; Zhao has to keep Wu "employed" even though she is a sulky girl, and the "hotel" exists no longer. However, Zhao, not an unkind chap, comes to feel sympathy for her while the girl Wu begins to understand what is going on around her.

I should not reveal more about the story except that though the whole framework of the film is that of comedy, the underlcurrent feelings are very tragic one, as you see in Zhang Yimou's recent works "Not One Less" and "The Road Home." The film unfolds its story very smoothly, thanks to the perfect performance of Zhao Benshan, to the bitter-sweet ending (more bitter than sweet, perhaps), and if you don't care for that kind of story, you will find another Zhang Ziyi in the strong acting of the heroine, of Dong Jie, who had to lose her weight by nearly 10 kilometers to prepare for the audition. Well, she looks natural, and is natural, but that's what you call good acting.

The most important thing might be that the director shrewdly inserts the shots and episodes that reflect the today's social conditions in China, the gaps between those who have, and have not. Ads for items like icecream or cosmetics are abound in the city, but they are out of the reach of the two main characters. But Yimou handles subtlely these matters, never letting them impede the film.

This is a simple tale, and might be too simple for some people. (If you want a more dynamic film, wait to see his next epic film "Hero" starring again Zhang Ziyi.) Still "Happy Times" offers vivid portrayal of two convincing characters and heart-wrenching (but heart-warming) moments. If you loved "Not One Less" or "The Road Home," definitely it is yours.

The film is co-produced by Terrence Malick, director "Thin Red Line."

Rating:
Summary: System Failure
Review: Working, as he must, under the oppressive and watchful eye of the Chinese government, director Zhang Yimou trades in the currency of political allegory. "Happy Times" is a subtle yet powerful criticism of the Chinese system in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. The symbolism is overt but never heavy -handed. Tragedy is deftly combined with a humor that is both disarming and perverse. The result is an engaging film of rich texture and complex emotion.

The film opens with aging bachelor Zhao (Zhao Benshan) in a discussion of marriage with an ample woman (Lihua Dong). Zhao, broke and unemployed, poses as a well-to-do businessman. As part of the deception he agrees to finance their lavish wedding. In order to raise the cash he refurbishes an abandoned bus to use as a for-rent retreat ("Happy Times Hotel") for passing young lovers. This is the first of the many absurd and futile efforts that characterize the film.

Zhao visits his girlfriend and meets not only her equally ample (and demanding) son, but also, in sharp contrast, the slight and blind stepdaughter, Wu (Jie Dong). The Stepmother succeeds in foisting the unwanted and mistreated Wu on Zhao, persuading him to give Wu a job at his "hotel". Wu is trained as a masseuse, and Zhao executes a comically elaborate scheme to deceive Wu into thinking that that she is, in fact, providing massages to wealthy businessmen in a grand hotel. The deception goes as far as compensating her with false bills fashioned from course paper.

The symbolism of fat and thin and the systematic deception of a blind girl may be offensive to western sensibilities, especially since there is some cruel humor associated with each. But this goes to the heart of the political allegory. Wu is blind and susceptible to being fooled, but she is ultimately no fool. The Stepmother, the promise of comfort for both Zhao and Wu, is a cold opportunist. Like the rulers and bureaucrats in Chinese system, she serves herself and delivers only to the privileged few.

The film's ending is a bitter irony. A well-intended deception becomes the ultimate exercise in futility. Tragedy strikes Zhao. Wu, aware of the deception all along, strikes out on her own. Each of them leaves behind a tender communication that will never reach the intended recipient. The absurd machinations of the ill-conceived Chinese system, even if well intended, are ultimately empty gestures that fail to provide. Though blind, Wu sees clearly that it is time to move on.

Rating:
Summary: Happy Times---Learning to Live With the End of Illusion.
Review: Zhang Yimou is always at his best when he is portraying ordinary people facing overwhelming circumstances. Although not an epic film, this movie joins the ranks of "To Live" and "The Story of Qiu Jiu" as yet another supreme example of that genre.

The story surrounds the efforts of a man in his fifties (Zhao) who is desperately trying to get a woman to marry him. The woman, when we meet her, is obviously a caricature-morbidly obese, with an enormous slob of a son. In this pathetic environment, the door opens on a frail, pretty young lady, who obviously doesn't fit the picture, and who, though blind, "sees" better than anyone else what is really important. I was struck by the pathos of her blindness, as she plays it magnificently. But I was even more fascinated with the "blindness" of Zhao, who can't see the forest for the giant Sequoia.

You know what? Forget reviews-you just need to see this movie. From the pathetic opening, to the elaborate ruse of a fake massage parlor that forms the bulk of the story, to the "relationship" that each of Zhao's retired friends forms with this young lady, to her noble response to the deception, which she discovers far before any of them suspect, to the incredible ending... Talking to a playing tape recorder...I never would have thought of it; it's really one of the most unusual endings I have seen.

When it comes right down to it, the whole movie is a caricature, because the storyline is so outlandish that you can never quite believe that something like that would actually happen. Throughout the movie, my most consuming thought was, "How in the sam hill is he going to end this thing?!" Zhang Yimou did not disappoint me. Zhao and the young girl are saying good bye to each other in a way which is tragic, because we know that neither of them can hear the other, and yet triumphant, because in some very real way, each of them has finally come to reality-the end of illusion.

Happy Times? Hmmm....I'd have to think about it. Yes, in a way, because throughout the whole time that this "game" is being played by Zhao and his friends, they really are being kind to the young girl. And she is having more fun than she has ever had in her life. Yet, the story is a tragedy, because none of the relationships are ever fulfilled. This movie is perhaps the most apolitical movie Zhang Yimou has made, but it is rich with the themes that have made him the great director he is. It is easily a movie for the whole family, and a movie that can be talked about, and talked about, and talked about long after it is over.

Rating:
Summary: Happy viewing, at least.
Review: Zhang Yimou's ironically titled *Happy Times* is really a remarkable tightrope act: it offers us some very sappy melodrama while commenting on its own artifices, and gets away with it like a charming thief. Get a load of this plot. . . . A fat divorcee with two teenagers -- her own boy and a blind, unwanted step-daughter left behind by her ex-husband -- gets involved with an unemployed proletarian named Zhao. Zhao, depressed, broke, and lonely, claims he's a big-shot hotelier in order to impress the divorcee, who turns out to be very hard to impress. Hence, Zhao's lies -- as one might expect -- become more grandiose and difficult to sustain, especially after the divorcee dumps the unwanted blind girl onto his doorstep. "I'm sure you can find SOME work for her at your fancy hotel!" the woman declares. Zhao hits upon the idea of hiring the girl as a masseuse for the imaginary hotel's wealthy guests. But how is he going to pull THIS off? Desperately, he lets the girl stay in his shabby apartment, which he claims is a "worker's apartment" -- his OWN place, of course, is some unspecified mansion elsewhere. Of course, by now he's forced to get his fellow-unemployed friends in on the act: they pose as the wealthy guests and receive massages from the girl in a decrepit factory that they have hastily dressed up as a massage parlor at the "hotel". Once these jobless pensioners run out of real disposable income, they tip her with rectangular cuttings from brown paper bags instead of money. This all sounds very cruel, I know, but just watch the movie: Zhao and his friends come to feel a deep fondness for the poor wretch, who -- you guessed it -- just wants to find her father somewhere in Beijing so that he can pay for a procedure to cure her blindness. This whole set-up -- poor man, blind girl, and their unlikely friendship -- could so easily slide down toward appalling sentimentality. But Zhang Yimou avoids that by making his characters well-rounded: selfish one minute, solicitous the next; hopeful one minute, suicidal the next; comic one minute, tragic the next. The story requires an artist to negotiate the narrative through the pitfalls of cliches that would otherwise sink it. But then, there aren't too many directors equal to Zhang Yimou's artistry, anyway. And here's a tip to the filmmakers out there: don't mistake the manipulative plot devices in *Happy Times* for universal situations. This is a story that could only happen in China. Therefore, no "loose remakes", please. Leave it alone.