Zui hao de shi guang (Three Times), Hou Hsiao Hsien, 2005

Hou's experiment, in which three period-specific domestic tales are related as vingnettes, is an ambitious and intruiging one. Unfortunately, and despite the austere grace of Hou's delicate compositions, each segment feels slight and ultimately inconsequential, investing far too much in the dead-eyed stares of its principles.