Story 1 — "Kaohsiung 1966"

Film setting

Kaohsiung (高雄) is in southern Taiwan and is used in this film, I think, as a "far away from Taipei", quiet, out-of-the-way , nostalgic (to the director) setting. It was a medium-sized, industrialized city in the 1960s. (1966 Kaohsiung Flickr pic 1, Flickr pic 2.) It was identified by the government as a growth city, mainly manufacturing, and became a municipality (highest-level city) in 1979. Our story is set before that growth. It is probably also relevant, given Story Two of this film, that its names was changed by the Japanese when they gained control of Taiwan in 1895 and what changed again in 1945 when the Japanese were defeated in WWII. It is a port city, has military bases, and was bombed heavily by allied forces in 1944-45. That our story involves the military a little is not surprising, given its local economy.

Most scenes involve pool halls. ("Even if Hou [the director] hadn't admitted it, it would be easy to guess that the first episode of Three Times is autobiographical. 'Before I went for my military service,' he told me when I asked him some questions for the film's press-kit, 'I used to chase the so-called 'pool-girls' around the pool halls.'"— BFI [British Film Institute], Songs for Swings Lovers, August 2006.)

Lyrics in "Three Times" Story One

These two songs are important to the message of the story, both in terms of their tone and their lyrics. Please read the lyrics very well and be clear about their meaning. Check out the YouTube versions if you want. I have selected versions that are true to the original music in sound but far from our film's mood, so as not to mix the YouTube visuals somehow into the film visuals.

Rain and Tears (printed lyrics)

Rain and Tears (audio via YouTube)

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (printed lyrics)

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (audio via YouTube)

Questions for the first session:

THREETIMES(1)-1. [This question can only be answered if the film has been viewed in full.] In Three Times, it seems to me that letters and letter-like vehicles of written communication are a heightened opportunity for sincerity or deception. In that vein, letters and letter-like objects of communication-exchange (such as text messages and messages conveyed through a computer as a Web page or words left on the screen—messages about relationship that invite responses about relationship, not just the delivery of information such as "Organic Green Peppers $2.49/lb" or messages that invite a response but are not about relationships such as a "Stop" traffic sign) seem to make the overall statement that with modernization sincere communication has weakened. It seems this is in part the result of modernization that has lost a commitment to xin (信), but also that the modern perspective has lost its innocence about written communication, fully recognizing the opportunities of written communication to manipulate truth. Consider the following questions to decide your own position on my above proposed interpretation. Questions for Segment One: Do the letters of this segment seem to be nothing more than simple statements, not cleverly constructed statements? Questions for Segment Two: Is Mr. Chang's letter sincere when he writes to say good-bye? Questions for Segment Three: Does Micky really kill herself as she says she will in the message left on Jing's computer? Is Jing's Web site a performance or an accurate description of her? Do the various text messages / voice mails in the segment work as reliable messengers?

THREETIMES(1)-2. [This question can be answered even if you have only viewed Story 1, but your perspective might change if you have viewed the full film.] What do you think is the most important "traditional" value in this segment?

Scene summaries — DVD menu Scenes 1-6 (0:00:00-0:42:31, elapsed time 0:43)

Note: All scene summaries for all movies were made by me, usually fairly quickly while viewing the film in real time and typing as it happens. There are bound to be errors. I remind students of the extra credit offer described at the scene summary section of the page "House of Flying Daggers-Module 01".

Story One: Kaohsiung, 1966 "A Time for Love" (戀愛夢)

DVD Scene 1 (begins at 0:00:00)

credits (starring Shu Qi and Chang Chen, Hou Hsiao-Hsien is director)

0:01:42: Kaohsiung 高雄, 1966 playing pool (music over is "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"--"His asked me if my love was true ..." Two men playing pool with an attractive young women watching. One is the May who we will get to know later, one is Chen. This is a "flash-forward". Music over ends at 0:04:18, as does scene.

DVD Scene 2 (begins at 0:04:21)

Chen is biking, Haruko (not May, that is later) is cleaning the pool table. (By the way, there are bikes, buses and ships traversing from right-to-left or left-to-right as transportation in this film and there seems to be something going on with that but I'm not sure.) He bikes by, comes back, gives Haruko a letter and leaves. (Radio music in the background.) She reads it attentively, then smiles, puts it away, continues to clean.

Chen is on a boat that is traveling right-to-left: he passes a woman (May) on a boat going the other direction. (Hmm, fate?)

Haruko is playing pool when a stylish young woman (May) carrying one suitcase arrives from Xinying. May is greeted by an older woman outside and told to go in. May looks around while the Haruko continues to play pool with an unknown guy; the older woman returns from making her offerings and starts to give May a tour, beginning upstairs.

DVD Scene 3 (begins at 0:9:45)

May is opening the pool hall for the morning; she finds the letter from Chen to Haruko in the drawer of the desk in the pool room, opens and reads it. (0:12:14 voice over gives contents of letter, addressed to Haruko.) Chen has to go to the army—he has been called up and will leave immediately. Chen failed his entrance exams twice and his mother has died. He is not sure of the future. He thanks Haruko for their happy days and asks that she writes. The PS asks is she knows the love song that goes ... (and while this plays May returns the letter to the drawer and the scene cuts to her playing pool with a man):

"I think of you,
We have been apart, for three long years,
Still I keep your warmth in my heart,
And your voice in my ears,
For three long years,
The seabirds' cry by the sea,
so sad and melancholy,
revives my sorry,
and chills me
to the marrow."

Towards the end of this song Chen walks in, not saying hi, and May looks at him. While she continues to play with the other man, she is very interested in this new guy—looking over towards him frequently but nonchalantly. Chen finally asks if Haruko is here. May answers that Haruko has moved to Taichung, near the railway station. Chen watches May for a while, then asks her name: "May". They play pool. She likes his style and seems to be thinking about something. He seems to like her, too.

Chen tells her he has to go, to do military service in Taipei (0:19:52). He gives her a generous amount of money and leaves. She smiles, perhaps hiding something, perhaps not.

He comes back to say he will write her and leaves again. May shuts the doors, seems pleased. (0:21:37)

Back to the same boat scene with Chen now standing at the prow, at night, traveling right- to-left again. (0:21:44)

DVD Scene 4 (begins at 0:22:26)

May is opening the pool parlor for the morning. This is the first shot from outside the parlor looking in, with her at the glass, looking out, looking bored or lonely. She steps out to the entrance, checks the mail, and sees a letter from Chen. (Remember, she knows that he had sent a letter to Haruko.)

In the letter Chen asks if she remembers him, it has been three months and it rains all the time. He says that they play a song over and over: "Rain and Tears" (title written in English in the letter). He ends the letter: "Stay beautiful!" Music of "Rain and Tears" begins (0:24:15). As she folds up the letter, she cries just a little bit while laughing a bit to herself to put away the emotion. The music continues as she organizes the parlor. And into the evening, when there are several men playing pool with her watching. And into another scene (0:25:53) when she goes to the back of the parlor, it seems, to the kitchen area to tell the ma'am that she should be going (as in "moving out"). The music continues as May, suitcase in hand, says good-bye to a fellow worker (her replacement). The ma'am asks if she would like lunch first but she says she will miss her train. It is daytime and she walks out, past the parlor men. A woman or young woman off screen asks her whether she worked at Jiayi. She says yes.

She is on a boat, going right to left. Looking happy, worried, thoughtful. (0:27:00)

DVD Scene 5 (begins at 0:27:24)

The woman who asked about Jiayi is back at the parlor cleaning. (This is Jing's girlfriend in Story Three.) Chen shows up. [He is on temporary leave from the military.] He asks if May is there and is told she doesn't work here anymore. She tells him that May works at Jiayi. She asks the ma'am who comes out to say directly that she works at Jiayi, at 685 Zhongcheng Road.

He sits at the prow of a boat, going from right-to-left. We again hear "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" (0:29:02)

(Music continues:) A road sign passes by (as if seen from a bus) that says Gangshan 岡山, then Tainan 台南 then Jiayi (0:29:46). He goes to a poolroom there, asks a young woman if May is there, is told she has left and doesn't know where she went (0:30:54). A sign reads Shuishang 水上, then Xinying (from where May originally arrived you might recall).

(Music ends after the full song has played.) Chen is standing as a bus stop, smoking, wondering what to do (0:31:41). He walks through a town, asks locals for an address, checks at that address where a woman [May's mother] says May is now in Huwei. He shows her a letter from May to prove he is a friend and she shows him a letter from May with a new address (34:12). A road sign reads Dalin 大林 with new music (sounds like Taiwanese contemporary). Then Dounan. Then Huwei. It is very late into the evening, almost dark.

DVD Scene 6 (begins at 0:34:31)

(Previous music continues:) May is playing pool (0:35:30). Chen walks up to her from behind. She laughs demurely when she sees him, asking a guy to take over her pool game. They chat, she asks how he found her. He asks when she gets off work—for dinner. She answers two hours. She asks him when he must return to the army base. He answers 9AM. She is very happy. She brings him tea. She asks if he wants cigarettes.

Chen and May are at an outdoor stand eating dinner, she keeps staring at him happily (0:39:07). Rain and Tears begins to play again as they run through the rain. They have missed the last train and will wait at the bus stop.

Standing at the bus stop, they lean into each other and then hold hands (0:41:21).

Screen goes black but music continues into the first scene of Story Two, then fades to silence.