Zui hao de shi guang 2005

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: The film is probably too slow, too silent and too long for most audiences. But look beyond the quietness, and you'll discover a three-gem jewel. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Great cinema, pop romance that carries a special charge. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: An emotional journey, a showcase for two fine actors, and a multifaceted picture of love. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: For the uninitiated, Three Times presents an ideal primer, a condensed K-Tel collection of themes that have consistently reappeared throughout Hou Hsiao-hsien's career. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: A discreetly cosmic, majestic trilogy. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: The deceptive simplicity of these vignettes, written by Chu Tien-wen, throws into relief Hou's formidable storytelling strengths and visual acuity -- his way with actors, his subtlety and expressiveness. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Seen in isolation, the first episode has the most satisfying plot and the last the least. But the film's achievement lies mostly in the beautifully articulated similarities and differences among the three. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Can a film be exquisite and, at the same time, less than one hoped for? This question arose as Three Times unfolded. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Do Hou's films deserve to be seen? Absolutely, if only to end the myth that they're too perfect for this world. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: I urge you to see the ineffably beautiful Three Times however you can, lest you go on thinking that Hou's greatness is merely the supposition of obscurantist critics. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: According to one American critic, Three Times is 'why cinema exists.' Only if you think that cinema has no higher calling that presenting a long series of gorgeously lit closeups of beautiful actresses are you likely to agree. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: ... a lyrical, subtle, chaste and nearly wordless romance between a giggly pool-hall hostess and a former customer on a one-night leave from the military. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: While it's impossible to deny that the film is interesting and unique, it's not the kind of motion picture that will cause the average viewer to run out and urge his friends to make a trip to one of the obscure art houses where it's playing. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Three varieties of love: unfulfilled, mercenary, meaningless. All photographed with such visual beauty that watching the movie is like holding your breath so the butterfly won't stir. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The three stories here are satisfying in a novella-like way. These are vignettes with smudged edges, snapshots of feelings, and yet they feel emotionally complete. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: A film to get lost in, a fragmentary, impressionistic trilogy of fleeting moments of love that is one of the best films of the year. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: A triptych of unrequited romantic tales. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Like Wong Kar-wai, Hou's interest in the unspoken nature of desire means his movie is sensually alive to the way love overwhelms and transforms one's experience of the world. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: Synthesizing Hou Hsiao-hsien's ambivalent relationship with time and memory, Three Times forms a handy connecting arc between the Taiwanese helmer's earlier work and the increasingly fragmentary direction of his recent films. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Is there another filmmaker who can so fluidly celebrate the moment as well as the epoch, and do so in the same shot? Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The first section of "Three Times" is fabulous; the second is fascinating if remote; and the third a jangly, modernist mess. Read more