Three Times

Name: Three Times
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: April 26, 2006
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 82

2006

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 22 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	Your Score
6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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Three Times

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: April 26, 2006

Summary: Hou Hsiao-hsien delivers one of the most rapturously beautiful and romantic movies of the year. Told as three love stories, each set in a different era -- a 1966 pool hall, a 1911 brothel and present day Taipei. The film stars the same actors in all three sections -- Shu Qi and Chang Chen. (IFC Films)

Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Three varieties of love: unfulfilled, mercenary, meaningless. All photographed with such visual beauty that watching the movie is like holding your breath so the butterfly won’t stir. Read full review

100

Michael Wilmington

Three Times is great cinema, pop romance that carries a special charge. Read full review

100

Richard James Havis

Three Times offers a careful examination of the changing ways people have reacted to each other during the past 100 years. As such, it's an interesting essay but certainly a minor work from a master. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

In these three potent miniatures, Hou Hsiao-hsien suggests that time passes differently when you're deeply in love. He captures the mystical quality of that time on film, making us feel as if we're living in it, rather than simply watching it. Read full review

Scott Tobias

A sampler of novella-length films set in three different time periods and starring the same two actors, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times resembles one of those delicate trios served at fine restaurants, each a fresh interpretation of a common ingredient. Read full review

Jami Bernard

A lyrical, subtle, chaste and nearly wordless romance. Read full review

Stephen Hunter

The first section of Three Times is fabulous; the second is fascinating if remote; and the third a jangly, modernist mess. Read full review

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User Reviews

Oct 23, 2006

Three Times (actually, I think the Chinese title is The Best of Times) is an outstanding work of art! Hsiao-hsien Hou has created a symphony in three movements that speaks to the depth of his intellect as a writer and director. The magnificent artistic skill of the camera lens, the profound Three Times (actually, I think the Chinese title is The Best of Times) is an outstanding work of art! Hsiao-hsien Hou has created a symphony in three movements that speaks to the depth of his intellect as a writer and director. The magnificent artistic skill of the camera lens, the profound simplicity of the images caste in three radically different histories, and the captivating recursive complexity of the story place work in the rarefied realm of great cinema. If you know film and have not seen Three Times, a gem awaits you.… Expand