Happy Times (Xingfu Shiguang)
China, 2000. Directed by Zhang Yimou, written by Gui Zi. Starring Zhao Benshan, Dong Jie, Li Xuejian. Produced by Edward R. Pressman, Terrence Malick, Wang Wei. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 106 minutes, rated PG. Sony Pictures Classics.

If Happy Times were Japanese, it would be a haiku: a poem springing from a few words about ordinary things. But Zhang Yimou's latest film, with its joyous blend of good old common sense, nonsense and circumlocutory versions of the truth, is unquestionably Chinese.