Since the mid-1990s Zhang Yimou, has been battling to find hope amidst the chaos of China′s society. Zhang′s films have, at times, entertained with ideals and ideas, but his popularity and appeal owe more to his strong story lines than his intellectual provocations. In Happy Time, he follows the life of an incompetent ordinary man. Lao Zhao, after retiring under the age limit, becomes infatuated with an obese woman whom he then proposes to. However, the woman assumes that he is a manager of an opulent hotel and requests 50,000 Yuan as dowry. In his attempt to come up with the money, Lao Zhao converts an abandoned railway car into a small motel for young lovers. However, he fails to obtain the dowry after the car is scrapped and he is left to look after the woman′s blind daughter. Having promised during his courtship that he would indeed find employment for the daughter, Lao Zhao attempted to deceive the blind girl into thinking she was employed as a masseuse at the hotel. The unexpected developments in the life of this unlikely couple, coupled with the warmth displayed by his friends, makes Happy Time, a very sentimental and moving film, and signifies the seed of hope discovered by Zhang Yimou. (Hur Moon-Young)