Happy Times (2001)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 60
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 17
One of Zhang's smaller films, Happy Times is nevertheless moving and bittersweet.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 5
One of Zhang's smaller films, Happy Times is nevertheless moving and bittersweet.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 4,251
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Movie Info
A man stretching the truth for his own sake soon begins doing the same for someone else, with increasingly complicated results, in this gentle comedy from China. Zhao (Zhao Benshan) is a guy in his early fifties who's out of work but still wants to marry his girlfriend (Dong Lifan). However, his often cranky sweetheart thinks he runs a hotel, and Zhao is trying to keep the illusion alive with the help of his pal Li (Li Xuejian) by turning an abandoned bus into a "love hotel" for couples who lack
Cast
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Zhao Benshan
Zhao -
Dong Jie
Wu Jing -
Li Xuejian
Li -
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Ben Niu
Oxhead -
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All Critics (72) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (17) | DVD (6)
A provocative, touching, surprising and obliquely illuminating piece.
Top CriticNot a film to rival To Live, but a fine little amuse-bouche to keep your appetite whetted.
This humbling little film, fueled by the light comedic work of Zhao Benshan and the delicate ways of Dong Jie, is just the sort for those moviegoers who complain that 'they don't make movies like they used to anymore.'
Metaphors abound, but it is easy to take this film at face value and enjoy its slightly humorous and tender story.
The performances are winning all around. And the comic, slice-of-life feel is charming, but takes a hike as the film progresses.
The film's maudlin focus on the young woman's infirmity and her naive dreams play like the worst kind of Hollywood heart-string plucking.
Jie Dong, who makes her film debut as the blind and unwanted Little Wu, is thin, tough and heartbreakingly lovely.
...director Zhang Yimou imbues the story with enough heart and humor to prevent it from resembling something out of a '70s horror flick.
The basic premise is intriguing but quickly becomes distasteful and downright creepy.
Happy Times sounds like any of the dozens of heart-tugging comedies that Miramax seems to release every month, but it has such a peculiar premise and the central performance by Zhao Benshan is so winning that Zhang gets away with it by the skin of
..it pulls all the heart strings it can in a shameless attempt to get real emotions.
One might relate this story to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. There is much to dislike in the message, but it's hard not to enjoy the craftsmanship of the tale.
Even legends like Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston occasionally directed trifles... so it's no surprise to see a world-class filmmaker like Zhang Yimou behind the camera for a yarn that's ultimately rather inconsequential.
It is life affirming and heartbreaking, sweet without the decay factor, funny and sad.
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The film never does choose between comedy and tragedy, and the final plot twist turns it into a failed fairy tale. With too many contrived characters and plot turns, Happy Times eventually seems weightless.