The best of times ...

In local movie news, Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) last Wednesday announced that he will start shooting his long-awaited project -- The Best of Our Time (最好的時光). Actress Shu Qi (舒淇), who starred in Hou's Millennium Mambo (千禧漫波), will again be his leading woman in the new movie. Shu will take on three different roles in the film: as a geisha in the Qing dynasty, a scorekeeping lady at billiard rooms, and a fashion model who suffers from anorexia.

It is a movie about the mood and atmosphere of a certain period, which for the lead characters of each segment, are the best of times, said Hou.

The music, he said, would play a vital part in painting the aura of each period. For example, the story of a billiard room lady is in fact Hou's own teenage memory, of skipping school and hanging around at billiard rooms.

"I had this crush on one scorekeeping lady who made me show up at the pool table every day. I remember the radio constantly played Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," he said. "After she quit the job, I even tried to look for her, taking a bus from Kaohsiung to Taipei to find her," he said. The film is set to finish shooting at the end of March.