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'Happy Go Lucky', 'Ghost Town' and 'Three Times' - ('Zui Hao De Shi Guang').

24.85.153.141

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 T�a 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.

Follow Ups:

Thanks! I just watched, "Naked," and I must say I for one am glad - tinear 22:09:00 12/26/08 (4)
Leigh has lighter fare in his blood.
Taiwanese filmmakers need bow to none, at this point in history.
- Tin: "Career Girls" has Katrin Cartlidge + Mike Leigh - grinagog 00:39:17 12/27/08 (3)
  in a much lighter vein than "Naked"
  Ms. Cartlidge was my favorite actress + sadly she is no longer with us ( died too young )
  With the exception of Lars von Triers "Breaking the Waves", which I didn't like, + "Claire Dolan" + "From Hell" which are both rubbish, every other film I've seen with her starring, or supporting in is quite salvageable
  Enjoy 2009!
  GW
  
  Edits: 12/27/08
  - I am glad there are others who like Katrin Cartlidge - PhilJ 11:25:42 12/27/08 (0)
    She had a quality that I liked quite a bit it is hard to put my finger on...
    
    I was shocked and saddened to hear she passed away
    
    RIP
    
    fwiw Career Girls is still quite sad IMO but Leigh is brilliant as usual
    
    thanks
    
    Phil
  - Guess "CG" will be up, soon. I like Trier's, "BTW," btw :-) - tinear 09:10:08 12/27/08 (1)
    I think it's brilliant.
    - Don't expect Career Girls to be a comedy.... - grinagog 04:06:18 12/29/08 (0)
      but its not anywhere near as dark as Naked
      
      Mike Leighs "Secrets + Lies" is also a very good film
      
      GW
RE: 'Happy Go Lucky', 'Ghost Town' and 'Three Times' - ('Zui Hao De Shi Guang'). - afilado 16:43:59 12/26/08 (3)
Heven't seen the first two and am likely not to.

I like Three Times a lot and can't improve on your critique. It's a pleasure worth repeated viewings for the beautiful lessons in love.
- saw Ghost Town last night - PhilJ 11:49:03 01/01/09 (0)
  Gervais is quite good and I would rate it slightly below Forgetting Sarah Marshall as far as romantic comedies for 2008.
  
  It starts off a little slow with the Gervais character wearing a little thin but Greg Kineer was perfectly cast and in the end I was into it and cared about the results.
  
  thanks
  
  Phil
- Can I ask you why... - Harmonia 20:36:04 12/29/08 (1)
  ...you don't want to see the first two movies? Just curious. Unless you just don't like Mike Leigh and you hate comedies.
  
  Happy Go Lucky is very good, with a marvelous lead perfromance. The sadly overlooked Ghost Town is one of the better romantic comedies of the new millenium.. I liked them both.
  
  I plan to see Three Times, BTW, which hasn't played here.
  
  Different strokers and all that...
  - RE: Can I ask you why... - afilado 13:40:16 12/30/08 (0)
    Hey, Harmonia, nice to hear from you again. I like your insights and input here.
    
    I live in a city where good film is slim pickings. Also, the big screen experience with an appreciative audience is pretty much a thing of the past. So, my day to day movie going is via DVD. Hence, a long and well-chosen queue.
    
    I appreciate Mike Leigh but I am not a great fan or student of his work. Don't feel the need to necessarily keep up with it. As for the comedy, I remember seeing a trailer for it and decided - intuitively - I can enjoy myself more by watching next in queue. Gervais is a brilliant sketch artist; neither he nor Leoni is a compelling lead figure for me.
    
    There's a "discovery" aspect to my viewing nature that I enjoy. If I ran into either of these two while traveling or at a friend's screening, I could be quite content watching them. I just don't feel strongly enough attracted to go out of my normal viewing pattern to see them.
    
    Respect and appreciations.

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