Happy Time
Happy Time |
Happy Time (China, 2001, 35 mm, 95 min.) Directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Benshan Zhao, Jie Dong, Lifan Dong Showtime: Zhao, an aging bachelor, has long been unlucky in romance. He thinks he has finally met the woman of his dreams, but he leads her to believe he is wealthy and agrees to a wedding beyond his means. Zhao's best friend Li comes up with the idea to raise money by restoring an abandoned bus that they will rent out by the hour as “Happy Times Hotel” to young couples starving for privacy. This plan goes wrong because Zhao is too old fashioned to allow couples to keep the bus door closed. Zhao's fiancee then brings her spoiled son and blind stepdaughter Wu Ying, whom she sees as a burden, into the mix. To get rid of the girl, the fiancee insists that Zhao gives her a job at the Happy Times Hotel. He reluctantly agrees, then creates a series of deceptions to keep the girl occupied, including setting her up as a masseuse and having his friends pretend to be customers. Everything that is happening between Zhao and Wu seems to be about trickery, but gradually a real empathy grows between the young woman and the old man. |