Happy Times

6 Stars! This is a must see movie but be warned....the description of this film is not what this film's about. It is not a comedy, even though parts of the story are actually funny. It is a fable about compassion and the amount of deception sometimes needed to achieve it, especially by the inept. Happy Times is directed by Yimou Zhang, who gave us the masterpiece The Road Home, and it is very moving and terribly sad and oddly funny. If you like being delighted and surprised, watch this one.

Zhao is a 50 year old unemployed loser making one last attempt at finding love. He courts a portly divorcee, but keeps having to lie to pass himself off as a better catch than he really is. Eventually, of course, the lies backfire. Zhao tells his sweetheart that he is the manager of a fancy hotel. She responds by foisting her blind stepdaughter off on him, confident that he can easily find her employment at his fancy hotel.

What follows is a funny, unlikely and touching relationship between Zhao and the blind girl Wu. While Zhao is terribly misguided, constructing elaborate deceptions to keep Wu "employed" at the non-existent hotel, he does these wrong things for the right reasons. Zhao does find love, but it isn't the woman or the love he expected.

This is an excellent film and there are three big reasons why: First of all, it's directed by Zhang Yimou who may well be the best director alive. This isn't a masterpiece like "Raise the Red Lantern," but seeing the phrase "Directed by Zhang Yimou" should be enough to tell you the next two hours will be well spent.

The second and third reasons are Benshan Zhao as Zhao and Jei Dong as Wu. Zhao is a respected Chinese comedian, but the role here is really a mixture of comedy and drama. Zhao gives the mixture exactly the right touch. But the real revelation is Jei Dong. I found myself wondering through the entire movie if she were really blind. She is that good. (And I still don't know the answer.)

Don't expect a laugh out loud comedy if you see this movie. It is very funny in places, but frequently that humor is very uncomfortable. And frequently happy times aren't really what they seem.

Yimau Zhang takes us along for a ride to explore how things seem to have changed in China. The country has given a step forward into the modern age as it shakes off its rigid past, adopting new ways in doing things. In fact, the country appears to have developed its own take on capitalism, as we watch a new prosperous, and aggressive China, transformed in ways we had not envisioned before. Mr. Zhang's film is an allegory about his country.

The main idea in the film is how Zhao, a factory worker, sets his eyes on a plump and attractive woman to get married. The woman, in turn, has her own ideas of what to expect from this man who lies to her and makes himself pass for a hotel manager. Thinking this is the case, the lady friend proposes he employs her stepdaughter, a blind girl that has been abandoned by her father, who has decamped to another city.

Zhao, who wants to keep the girlfriend happy, decides to take Wu Ying to work at his hotel, which in reality is a bus, that he and his buddy have converted in a lovers' motel, in a park. But before he can do anything, Zhao watches in horror as how some cleaning crews are taking his livelihood away because they are beautifying the area. Zhao is stuck with Wu Ying, so he takes her to his own humble apartment.

Zhao and his friends from the factory devise a plan to convert space in the dilapidated building a massage parlor so that the blind girl can work. The only thing, there are no clients, and only Zhao's friends are enrolled to tip the young woman using Zhao's own money.

The film is a delightful comedy about how being entrepreneurial backfires on the well intentioned man. The blind girl, Wu Ying, knows much more than what Zhao and the rest give her credit for, and unfortunately, everything ends badly, except for the blind girl, who recognizes the kindness of his mentor, who doesn't get to know first hand of her gratitude because fate intervenes.

"Happy Times" is a charming film that works thanks to the light touch by the director. Benshan Zhao, who has been seen in other Chinese films is excellent in the role of Zhao. Jie Dong plays Wu Ying with conviction and Lifan Dong, is the stepmother, who discovers the duplicity of her would be husband.

Recommended to all Yimou Zhang's fans who might have missed its commercial run.

There is, in this world, many parents, siblings or grandparents are, but they always angry, especially when it comes to their loved ones. His "generosity" is full of contempt, anger and I think that self-frustration for failing to more fortunate children or grandchildren or more committed to themselves. This giving is worth very little, because the recipient feel humiliated, and love is hate and what does not grow in his heart, first by himself, by being forced to receive from whoever stain, and second, that which gives because he knows that, at bottom, despises him.

There is in this world, and fortunately, people who are eager to give and to serve because he feels playing the role for which he was born, then, when given the heart, there is nothing more rewarding for humans to feel that someone has released a fix or which has helped improve their quality of life. Being that really works, do not expect rewards, for the simple flow makes you feel full, and instead wanted to thank you, it is he who gives them for being in a state of abundance.The sincere and loving act of giving is an act of creation because it is spreading, confidence and hope.

It is this that comes Zhao, a man old enough and who, wishing to mate with a plump woman conflictive existence, just knowing Wu Ying, a sweet blind teenager who, motherless and abandoned by her father with his stepmother, he began to feel that, this woman is charging the resentment what she feels for his volatile father. Zhao, take time to under the beautiful Wu and begin a long quest to get her access to the happy times, while getting to make sense of their existence.

Yimou's film, soon to look at the classic Charles Chaplin "City Lights" but his personal touch and very oriental, manages the film with feel and certain charm, though - it must be said - without the immense magic and poetic warmth that has the now classic work of Charlot. However, at the end one feels that, with grace and wisdom, "Happy Times", has shown a path that gives meaning to existence, and so, well deserve our warmest applause.

It seems that most of the negative reviews that this film has gotten are based upon people's misconception that the film should be what THEY want it to be, not what it really is. The truth is, although there's certainly humor in the film, it's not a comedy - nor does it pretend to be a fairy tale, or a social expose, or a political statement. To me, it's a film about cruelty and compassion - both by human beings and by fate. I found it both life-affirming, and heartbreaking - often at the same time, and I thought the acting was excellent on everyone's part. To me, well worth seeing, and quite unique.