We spent late last last night until the wee hours of the morning watching two very enjoyable and one masterpiece films.
Happy Go Lucky is a Mike Leigh film with Sally Hawkins as Poppy, she's an interesting, special soul and alive in every sense..just a great character. Eddie Marson is Scott, a driving instructor who Poppy hires.
It was a joy to watch this movie, the chemistry between Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan is something that must be seen. Marsan rules every scene he is in without being over bearing or stepping on anyones toes. Good stuff.
Ghost Town has Ricky Gervais as the male romantic lead and Téa Leoni as the object of his desire. I had never thought of Gervais in this type of role but he pulls it off with a nice touch of style, verve and with great wit. If you want to spend a couple of hours with a lite, enjoyable movie that will make you laugh out loud this is definitely one to do it. Family approved if that is important.
Three Times (Zui Hao De Shi Guang) is a beautifully made masterwork by
Hsiao-hsien Hou with Qi Shu and Chen Chang in the lead roles. Hou uses his own body of work going back to at least the 1980 Jiu Shi Liu Liu De Ta as a reference framework to look at love/the memory of love and how past and present intersect, interact and influence one another in that context. But this film is so much more than that and any words I write here about it will just not do it justice, after 3 viewings new thoughts and ideas continue to bubble to the surface.
IMO this is the pinnacle of Taiwanese film at this point and perhaps that is damning it with faint praise.
The subtitle translations are very good but some of the inner language and off the cuff stuff is dodgy or missing but not a big deal.
J.B.
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Topic - 'Happy Go Lucky', 'Ghost Town' and 'Three Times' - ('Zui Hao De Shi Guang'). - Tony D. 13:44:03 12/26/08 (9)
- Thanks! I just watched, "Naked," and I must say I for one am glad - tinear 22:09:00 12/26/08 (4)
- Tin: "Career Girls" has Katrin Cartlidge + Mike Leigh - grinagog 00:39:17 12/27/08 (3)
- I am glad there are others who like Katrin Cartlidge - PhilJ 11:25:42 12/27/08 (0)
- Guess "CG" will be up, soon. I like Trier's, "BTW," btw :-) - tinear 09:10:08 12/27/08 (1)
- Don't expect Career Girls to be a comedy.... - grinagog 04:06:18 12/29/08 (0)
- RE: 'Happy Go Lucky', 'Ghost Town' and 'Three Times' - ('Zui Hao De Shi Guang'). - afilado 16:43:59 12/26/08 (3)
- saw Ghost Town last night - PhilJ 11:49:03 01/01/09 (0)
- Can I ask you why... - Harmonia 20:36:04 12/29/08 (1)
- RE: Can I ask you why... - afilado 13:40:16 12/30/08 (0)