Three Times
£18.99, Artificial Eye

Since his Palme D'Or-nominated drama The Puppetmaster, Chinese director Hou Hsiao-hsien has been seen by those apparently in the know as being crucial for the future of cinema. This ambitious film shows his strengths and occasional weaknesses clearly. It can often be a confounding experience when he doesn't quite get to where he seems to be aiming, but when he hits the target there are few that can touch him. Three Times tells three love stories set in separate years - 1966, 1911 and 2005 - with the same actors playing the troubled couples (Chang Chen and rising star Shu Qi). Originally each tale was to have a different director, but lack of money put paid to that idea, with Hou turning a financial consideration into an artistic statement. The second story, for example, is presented as a silent movie, as the tight schedule apparently didn't allow time for the actors to learn peculiar 1911 speech patterns. The versatility of director and stars is clear as they set up three very different styles and moods. The romances - a pool hall hostess and a soldier, a wealthy man and a courtesan, a pop singer and a photographer - all seem ill-starred from the outset as the different eras, political and personal situations conspire to keep the protagonists apart. It's like three movies in one, but the downside is that, though visually rich, all three are not as equally engaging. Still, Hou shows love as a delicate, nuanced thing, the romances being more unfulfilled than unrequited and Shu Qi's impressive performances steal the movie - three times over.

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