I discovered this was on at a cinema in Wolverhampton (which is actually exactly the same amount of time away as the arts cinema in Birmingham I usually go to) and decided to go as it was one of the 4 "B-s" I was anticipating for months that were originally slated for releases in February (I explained it better at the time, I can't be bothered to go through it again now). What an incredible disappointment, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Three Times was a complete fluke.
Hou Hsiao-hsien is the director here and he has done some excellent work, but also has the ability, when snoozing (like in Millennium Mambo), to be almost intolerably poor. Sadly this film is very much in that vein. There's no plot to speak of, zero characterisation and only Binoche gives any semblance of life to the woman she's playing, in that respect she's burdened with almost exactly the same thing Shu Qi was in Mambo except ... here Binoche doesn't have the screen all the time like Hou usually gives his leads. Just like Mambo the only semblance of drama is people arguing and no matter how hard Juliette tries and no matter how smooth and nice the cinematography, there's just nothing of interest on offer.
It starts as a homage to the French short Red Balloon, but apparantly even for those familiar with it (I'm not) it's tenuous at best. The result is something that fails so consistently on so many levels it's unbelievable. The only people I could possibly think of recommending this film to are people who love everything Hou's done or those who absolutely adore Juliette Binoche and would pay to see her read the phone book. 7 people turned up for this film, 3 walked out, I can't blame them as half of the scenes nothing happens in and serve no dramatic purpose. This is the kind of film that puts people off seeing foreign language films and gives world cinema a bad name, I despair at how it turned out because the prospect of Binoche in a Hou film was potentially so interesting - oh that he'd put her in all of it and at least thought of a story to tell.