Peter Bradshaw 

Happy Times

Peter Bradshaw: Zhang Yimou's new feature doesn't have the resonance of some of his other work, but it's got pathos and charm
  
  


Zhang Yimou's new feature doesn't have the resonance of some of his other work, but it's got pathos and charm. Zhao (Zhao Benshan) is an ageing chancer trying to woo a comfortably-off divorcee; to impress her, he claims to be the manager of the fictional Happy Times hotel and says he can get her blind teenage stepdaughter Wu Ying employed there as a masseuse - of the entirely respectable sort. He leads Wu into his fake "hotel massage room" in a deserted warehouse with his shiftless mates posing as customers paying with phoney bills made of cut-up brown paper. Not exactly laughter in the dark; the film has sweetness and lightness, with Dong Jie as the blind 15-year-old, unloved by her harsh stepmother, responding to Zhao's fatherly concern and treating his well-meant deceptions with dignity and tact.

 

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