Happy Times

Watch online Happy Times (2000), Zhang Yimou's bittersweet comedy-drama about an ageing bachelor whose well-meaning lies spiral out of control.

Zhao has never had luck in love and longs to marry. To win over a calculating woman, he passes himself off as wealthy and promises a lavish wedding he can't possibly afford. Tangled in his own story, he ends up looking after her blind stepdaughter and spinning an ever-growing web of tender, absurd deceptions just to protect her hope.

This is one of the more intimate films from the director of Hero and Raise the Red Lantern: no sweeping spectacle here, just quiet warmth and a streak of melancholy humor. A small, deceptively simple story about kindness that costs nothing. Stream it on iFILM.