Happy Times (2000)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good concept, poorly executed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

In order to really appreciate this film, you first have to get over what will probably be some shattered expectations. The movie is described as a "comedy-drama" and I've come across at least one commentator who described it as a "lighthearted" comedy. I'm not sure what movie that commentator was talking about, but "Happy Times" certainly isn't "lighthearted" nor did it come across to me as a comedy. There are some humorous moments in it (such as Li lying down on the massage table and having his head crash through the hole because it was too big) but for a good part of the movie I was feeling somewhat angry at what I was seeing, and, in the end, the overwhelming feeling I was left with was one of sadness. None of that is meant to say that this wasn't a good movie. It was. I was actually quite taken with it. It just wasn't what I was expecting at first and it took a while for me to reconcile my expectations with what I was actually seeing.I said the movie left me with a feeling of sadness. That's largely because it was filled with sad characters. The movie revolves around Zhao, a lonely man who desperately wants to get married and who makes up a story about himself being a hotel owner to get a woman interested in him. The woman is a heavy-set twice divorced mom to a rather obnoxious son and the epitome of the wicked stepmother to 18 year old Wu - the blind daughter of one of the men who left her. She treats Wu like a servant and desperately wants to get rid of her, finally pawning her off on to Zhao, telling him to give her a job at his hotel. Zhao - carrying on the deceit - puts together a fake massage business (a legitimate one) and "hires" Wu to massage his friends, who finally end up having to pay her with fake money because they're all broke. Jie Dong was great as Wu, and Benshan Zhao equally good as Zhao.My initial anger stemmed from the deceit that Wu was being surrounded by. That feeling changed to sadness when I realized that - aside from the stepmother - no one was being deliberately cruel to her. Zhao and friends really did seem to care for her, and Zhao develops an obviously affectionate, almost father-like relationship with her. Watching that relationship evolve was very interesting, but it all led up to - again - what I found a very sad ending, as Wu leaves to an unknown fate, and Zhao is abandoned by his girlfriend and then seriously hurt when he's hit by a truck and we're left not even knowing whether he'll survive. So, yes, it's sad and a bit heavy rather than lighthearted, but still quite well done with very good performances from the two leads that leave you with feelings of sympathy for both because in the end you really do like both Wu and Zhao. 7/10

This file is a definite must-see. I haven't witnessed many movies that are this touching, beautiful, and inspiring. I will not go through the entire plot, but I'll give you a rough sketch. An elderly man begins dating a woman who has a blind daughter who is treated very poorly. This man begins to show a deep amount of compassion towards this . The acting is brilliant, and the story is very touching. One of the scenes alone makes this movie, in which the begins feeling the elderly man's face. Happy Times is shot entirely in Chinese, which diminishes nothing from the film, it only add to it. I highly recommend this film. It should be everything you're looking for in a film.

It is a great movie... Yimou Zhang is one of the greatest directors on earth but one of the most overlooked talents. The world doesn't stop at Hollywood. Many great talents become overshadowed by the high budget Hollywood movies(and most of these movies literally don't tell "anything" to their audience). This is a movie with a stand, it presents a world-view and most importantly it is humane... It has a story with sub-texts and in these sub-texts, most people may find many details familiar to their emotional experiences. It is an intimate movie because it tells about "the good side of the mankind that we all must preserve in ourselves". I recommend it to everyone.

********** SPOILER WARNING ********* At first we see Old Zhao as an incompetent loser, in debt to his friends and unable to pick a suitable wife, while simultaneously bumbling his attempts to improve his financial standing. Ultimately, he is transformed by finding true affection and compassion for another. While there are comic elements in this film, and several very good laughs, the title, "Happy Times", belies its underlying tragic quality. A number of critics, both amateur (in this section) and professional, have described this movie as cloyingly tragic. With a set-up that includes a wicked stepmother abusing her blind daughter, this complaint has some legitimacy. But the truly poignant feature of this film is its focus on Zhao and Wu Ying who both end-up discovering genuine feelings for the other, even as each comes to a realization of the depth of their affection in an all too brief and isolated moment of insight. The ending is truly heart-rending. A very fine film.