作为向小津安二郎致敬的作品，《咖啡时光》在某种意义上成为侯孝贤和小津、两位导演交错时光的对话——电影本身在多大程度上保留了小津或者流露了侯孝贤的风格，已经不重要，重要的是我们再次瞥见了一种一脉相承的东方电影语汇的诗兴流淌。是这种独特的以影像讲述人生的方式，以及叙述过程中所留住的时光，感动了我。

小津的影像更多表现在镜头空间的呈现上。虽然相隔文化差异，但侯孝贤作为影像作者，还是敏锐地捕捉到了日本人生活空间构成中的局促与秩序。侯孝贤的镜头不断转换于塌塌米、家庭、书店、咖啡馆、食肆、电车、火车等各种今日东京的空间与场所中。就像文德斯在较早前拍的《寻找小津》，今天的东京无论在文化还是家庭与个人生活的层面，都自然与小津时代的东京有所不同，但是塌塌米式的跪姿的镜头高度的静默凝视，仍然让人一再地缅怀那位已故日本电影大师。侯孝贤在影片的大段篇幅中在室内取景，这当然和小津有关，和影片所要叙述的故事有关，而这也在另一方面构成了侯孝贤眼里的日本和东京。即使偶然有街景和较为大范围的取景，构图也显得拥挤而局促，没有预留下多少清朗空阔的天空的位置。人与人的相处恭敬而谦和，邻里之间一再地躬身，一再地使用“你好、谢谢、对不起、打扰了、抱歉……”等等礼貌用语。这种细碎而井然的言语和背后的人伦面貌的体现，漂浮在局促的城市日常生活空间中——而这两者的叠加，看来便是作为繁华大都市的东京，和我们所熟知的侯孝贤电影里的台湾乡村的大不同。

电车(火车)里的场景以及电车(火车)的来来回回，则是侯孝贤式的。这是侯孝贤所感受到的一个繁华大都市内里更为私密、更为自我的现代城市男女个体的生活。这也使得侯孝贤得以跳脱出小津时代、纯然停留于家庭以及家庭与社会之间的日本人的絮絮叨叨，作为一个更为现代的东京，一个今日日本社会，传统毕竟岌岌可危，家庭的构成以及家庭成员之间的关系，都有着潜移默化的转变。影片中少女阳子的生存状态便是一个一反常态的典型，新一代的日本人，已然不再囿于半个世纪前尚且牢固的秩序的束缚，她(他)们开始向往更为年轻、更为自由、更为个人的生活方式。少女阳子的职业是自由撰稿，她一个人离开家庭在东京栖居，怀孕并且不曾打算结婚，她选择了把孩子生下来，做一个独立的未婚母亲，而他的父母在得知此事后更多也只能是抱以沉默……作为电影的主角，通过阳子，侯孝贤为我们悄悄揭示了半个世纪以来日本社会与家庭、千头万绪的不变与改变。现时代的日本东京的生活状态，更多时候是电车(火车)里打瞌睡的男女，或者林林总总的咖啡馆(食肆)里静静休息的时光——芜杂、喧嚣、忙碌的表象下，静默依然，并且多了一分孤独况味。

在这样一部向小津致敬的作品里，侯孝贤的叙事甚至更为极端，纯粹，超脱。超越了小津也超越了他自我的既往。我们几乎已经看不到哪怕一丝戏剧或情节意义上的矫揉造作，侯孝贤一再地抹除着作品中任何讲故事的兴味和我们惯常的期待。却又并非形式极简主义的空洞乏味——阳子的父亲面对女儿怀孕的消息久久地保持沉默，阳子和肇在乘坐电车(火车)的生活中交错并且最终相遇……仔细端详《咖啡时光》，你会发现这电影像是侯孝贤为我们一手炮制的一团内蕴深厚的海绵，你需要一点一滴地从这样的形式中汲出生活和情感的细节来。

其实看完全片我们也可以意识到，这是一部很有“戏”可出、很有“故事”可讲的电影，而侯孝贤偏偏硬生生地、把一切有可能把我们引诱向“故事”的段落从影片中剪除。未出现的来自台湾的男子、肇和阳子的感情、少女的未婚先孕、家庭的态度……这都是值得延伸并且大书特书的情节，而侯孝贤偏偏就是要把它们隐藏为背景，隐藏为上下文。你不能不叹服如此大胆的电影手法。举这样一个细节为例：电影中一直未曾出现的来自台湾的男子，在阳子偶然地一次给他的电话留言之后，回复了，而回复的方式依然是电话答录，这段或许本该着重表现的关键部分，候孝贤独创性的处理在于——他把这一段安排为父母和阳子刚进家门时刻的背景音。于是在电影里我们看到，一边是阳子和父母讨论着琐事，一边是电话留言不清晰地在述说着什么。那名男子和阳子到底曾经发生过些什么，也许这正是我们所最关心的，而侯孝贤并不急于向你交待，这也正是《咖啡时光》与别的电影的区别所在。

也许，讲述一种文化、一种时代的整体面貌，讲述时间流淌的过程，才是侯孝贤的关注所在，而某一个人、某几个人在某一特定时期内的细微情感起伏，则统统内蕴在这具时间的海绵中。写到这里，又要回到关于电车(火车)的意象。侯孝贤是钟情于火车的，在他那些关于台湾乡土的电影中，火车与铁轨的意象，成为穿越时空的、家国命运与人的生命情感的绵延。那么在现时代的日本，在东京与北海道之间，在都市里，电车(火车)的穿梭、纵横、交错的往来，则至少意味着时间的流逝本身。影片的主题延续着侯孝贤对于人的生命的关怀，而这种关怀的体现，又总是时间流逝背后的、毫不张扬的隐隐作痛。肇是一个静默地关爱着阳子的男子，并且他十分喜欢在业余时间收集火车发出的声音。在轰隆轰隆的车来车往声中，我们见证了这段时间里，两个人静静相处的美丽时光。阳子怀孕以后来到乡下扫墓，或者父母赶到东京参加同事的葬礼，轰隆轰隆的车来车往声中，我们又见证了生命的成长、衰老、死亡与新生。你可以把《咖啡时光》理解为一部关于少女的情感和生活的电影，一部关于日本人的家庭和城市生活的琐屑的电影，一部关怀寻常人生的电影……但最终感动我们的，是撇开一切、忘怀一切以后，伴随着电车(火车)往来穿梭的、那静静流淌着的时间。那时间就像是你在咖啡馆消磨的时光，阳光懒散地射进来，静静温暖着我们每一个人。

早期的侯孝贤曾经通过朱天文接触到沈从文的文学风格，他发现“一切都是明亮的，所有的事都变成一种过程，没有痛苦，没有悲伤，只有被人的胸襟和对生命的热爱来包容。”这种静观人生的叙事态度，是侯孝贤的，是小津的，更是东方的。影片中有一段叙述阳子对于已故音乐家江文也的遗孀的采访，当白发苍苍的老太太颤巍巍地翻开相册缅怀过去时，又何尝不是一种曾经沧海、又包容岁月的平静！至于本片的片名“咖啡时光”，更像是侯孝贤对于那有一点沉默、有一点懒散的时光的着重标注。他说：“坐咖啡厅就像坐火车一样，晃啊晃的，那种平稳的节奏，人就恍神了，很容易就会睡着，就会有很多影像浮现了开来。”

……

影片结束于由城市上空俯拍的、铁轨上交错纵横驶过的火车的一个空镜，火车轰隆轰隆，穿越河流，穿越城市。女主角Yo Hitoto填词的片尾曲逐渐浮现，歌词内容更像是她的回顾与轻叹。也正是这个充满了写意的抒情镜头，使侯孝贤回到了他自己，他从这部100分钟的影片中那种小津式的恬淡里抽身而出，镜头拉的更远，站在东京的上空，凝视这城市。

Introduction

Yasujiro Ozu is an exceptional director admired by film lovers all over the world. Director Hou Hsiao-Hsien pays an homage to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ozu's birthday. Hou is a long-time admirer of Ozu's work and this piece will surely be one that will go down in screen history as a meeting of minds and talents of the two.

Hou Hsiao-Hsien has already garnered his own fair share of international acclaim in foreign film festivals including Cannes, Venice and Berlin, with such works as City of Sadness and Flowers of Shanghai. His new work  paints a picture of modern Japan. Hou himself says, "I tried to think how Ozu himself would have shot a film in today's Japan," and this work succeeds splendidly in echoing the "spirituality" of Ozu, presenting to the audience a work that could well be described as a Tokyo Story for the 21st century by portraying everyday life in modern Japan from the viewpoint of Director Hou.

Shot in Japan with Japanese actors and actresses, this was the first time for Hou to shoot a film entirely in a foreign location in a foreign language. For Hou therefore,  is an important work in a new medium, even for such an international director.

Director Hou's aim has been to portray the real and evince other things the eye cannot see, and as he paints a picture of modern Japan, the audience are struck by the universality of his theme of "loving people and savoring each and every moment."

Yoko (Yo Hitoto), a freelance writer becomes friends with the proprietor of a secondhand bookstore, Hajime (Tadanobu Asano) and the two spend a great deal of time together in coffee shops. Yoko was raised in the rural town of Yubari by her sight-impaired uncle, but has created a good relationship with her father and step-mother. One day Yoko tells her parents that she is pregnant. The father of the child is Taiwanese. Her parents worry for Yoko's future and her choice to become an unmarried mother. Although he cannot articulate his feelings, Hajime is filled with love for Yoko. In her daily life Yoko comes to reevaluate her view of her family, Hajime, and the new life growing inside her….

The musician who the main character Yoko is researching in the film was a real musician called Jiang Ewn-Ye. Born in Taiwan with Japanese nationality, Jiang was the talk of 1930s and 1940s music world in Japan, and living through the fast changing modern era, he passed away in Beijing in 1983.

As the title  suggests a feeling of "settling the spirit and facing the realities of one's life," the film portrays the moments where Yoko and Hajime are about to restart their own lives, with delicate and transparent images. During the film, a coffee shop appears which embodies the title of the film.

The main role is taken on by Yo Hitoto in her first film appearance. Coming to Japan for the audition, Director Hou knew immediately when he saw Yo, whose debut single Morai-naki was a long-selling hit, that "she is the main character." Considering that this is her debut performance, Yo portrays the heroine Yoko with unique sensitivity (a song of Yo's is also used in the film's soundtrack). For Yo's counterpart in the film, Tadanobu Asano whose overwhelming presence on the Japanese silver screen continues to draw strong appeal at home and abroad in such works as Zatoichi and Bright Future (Akarui Mirai), was selected as the proprietor of the secondhand bookstore. Masato Hagiwara, Nenji Kobayashi and Kimiko Yo also bring their unique talents to portray tenderly the transient feelings of men and women, as well as family relationships.

Principal photography was completed in a manner favored by Director Hou, whereby　the script is unfinished and instead shooting concentrates on imagination while shooting.　This is a style in direct contrast to Ozu, who fastidiously stuck to a strict style. However, what both men share in common is their "description of people, society and feelings."

Director Hou has filmed in various locations in Tokyo, a city he has been familiar with for 20 years, including Jimbocho which is known for its bookstore-district, and Kishibojin where the looks of the old style Tokyo still remains. His ability to paint a true portrait of the lives of the people living in those areas, and bring the place and the people to life is truly remarkable. He also takes in the Yamanote Line (the belt line surrounding the center of Tokyo) and the tramcar line (running in the old area of Tokyo), which feature strongly in the life of the heroine.

Filming commenced on August 2, 2003, in the town of Ueda in Nagano Prefecture and after location shoots in Takasaki and Tokyo, the last shots were filmed on September 26. After principal photography was over, the film was edited in Taiwan, dubbed in Thailand, and developed in Tokyo - a truly pan-Asian post production process leading up to the highly anticipated world premiere on December 12, 2003. French distribution has already been confirmed, and the rest of the world awaits the story to unfold and to be transmitted from Japan.

Story

--- Imagine enjoying a coffee. Now imagine having a coffee and transforming your mood, forgetting all that has happened previously, resetting yourself to be able to move on to what you are going to do next. It may only be a short time, but this coffee time is a treasure that imbues these benefits.

2003, Tokyo. A part of a residential neighborhood where the tramcars still run. Freelance writer Yoko (Yo Hitoto) has just returned from Taiwan the previous night. Before returning to her home in Takasaki, she decides to visit the second-hand bookstore in Jimbocho owned by Hajime (Tadanobu Asano), who has taken on the running of the store from his father.

Hajime and Yoko first became friends when she began coming to his store searching for research materials. She has also come to know Hajime's best friend, Seiji (Masato Hagiwara), who owns a tempura restaurant and the three have become very close. Yoko is researching materials on the Taiwan-born musician Jiang Ewn-Ye who was also active in Japan, and Hajime is helping her in her search for these materials.

Given that her parents divorced when she was just a child, Yoko was brought up in the rural northern island of Hokkaido by her uncle, who was troubled by poor eyesight, but she has since built up a relationship with her real father (Nenji Kobayashi) and his new wife (Kimiko Yo).

Yoko returns to her father's house for the annual Obon festival in August. It is there when Yoko, who hasn't spent time with her parents for a long time announces the fact that she is pregnant. This sudden news shocks her father and step-mother into silence.

To collect more materials about Jiang Ewn-Ye, Yoko makes a trip to Ueda in Nagano Prefecture. She visits the Ueda High School where Jiang studied and the kindergarten where the missionary who influenced Jiang used to work, walking in his footsteps.

Hajime, who is something of a railway fanatic likes nothing better than to record the sound of trains in his spare time. There are therefore many occasions when he and Yoko will meet up on station platforms. On her recent trip to Taiwan, Yoko has brought back an old pocket watch that used to be owned 50 years ago by a driver on the Taiwan railroads, as a gift for Hajime.

Yoko feels that she can tell the silent and calm Hajime anything. She finds that when she is with Hajime, she feels an unusual peace of mind and special calmness of spirit in herself.

Yoko is fond of coffee and has a favorite coffee shop with a favorite seat in particular wherever she goes. Yoko and Hajime talk about nothing of any consequence, and enjoy the peaceful flow of time with each other.

On the other hand, Hajime who is fond of Yoko, is shocked to learn that she is pregnant and is unable to convey his own feelings. In the midst of this situation, Yoko receives word that her uncle in Hokkaido will undergo eye surgery.

One day Yoko's parents come to Tokyo for the funeral of an acquaintance. While eating the mother's homemade potato stew in Yoko's apartment, the parents have it out with Yoko about her pregnancy. It turns out that the father was one of the students to whom she taught Japanese in Taiwan, who is now managing an umbrella factory in Amoy, but she has no intention of marrying him. Although he is worried for his daughter as an unmarried mother, her father cannot bring himself to put these feelings neatly into words.

Yoko who has fallen asleep on the train wakes up and notices Hajime watching over her and is reassured. In the daylight of another ordinary afternoon, Yoko starts to evaluate her life, and consider her family and the new life growing inside her…