Happy Times

In this bittersweet comedy set in contemporary China, director Zhang Yimou (The Road Home) relates the story of a middle-aged, unemployed bachelor who tells a bunch of seemingly harmless lies to impress a prospective bride whose plump figure he finds most desirable. As part of an elaborate ruse, the overly eager suitor agrees to give the matronly woman's blind teenage stepdaughter a job as a masseuse in one of his supposed businesses--an act of “kindness” that leads to an unlikely friendship between the two even as romantic prospects with her mom cool. Despite some winning performances, however, the contrived scenario undercuts the sentimental humanist message, making this a quite optional purchase for all but those with strong Chinese cinema collections. (T. Rich)