Tsai Ming-liang - Ni neibian jidian ('What Time Is It There?') (2001)

A quirky comedy about a young man who sells watches in the streets of Taipei. He sells his own watch to a young woman who is leaving for Paris the next day. He is so moved by this encounter that he goes around setting all the clocks in Taipei to Paris time, in order to keep some connection with her. DVD Prod. Desc.




When a young street vendor with a grim home life meets a girl on her way to Paris, they forge an instant connection. He changes all the clocks in Taipei to French time; as he watches Francois Truffaut's Les 400 Coups, she has a strange encounter with its now-ageing star (Jean-Pierre Leaud). (http://imdb.com/title/tt0269746/plotsummary)




A young Taipei watch vender reluctantly sells a pretty Paris-bound girl his own watch, then finds himself longing for her, so much so that he begins setting the clocks all over the city to Paris time. Meanwhile, his recently widowed mother is looking for signs that her dead husband has returned to her. (-Bruce Diones The New Yorker)




The director Tsai Ming-liang's haunting meditation on loneliness and time is a lovely, mordant piece of moviemaking. His immobile camera compositions and bare-bones use of dialogue allow the performers to play out their complicated emotional lives with a dramatic stillness and a dotty humor that is, at times, breathtaking. (-Bruce Diones The New Yorker)




Tsai Ming-liang's films are nothing like what most audiences are used to as his films have very little, or almost no, dialogue. This means that the dynamic force of Tsai Ming-liang's films are the images and the scenes that he creates with a meticulous perfection as if each scene could be hanging by itself in the Louvre. Through doing this the audience is compelled to participate cerebrally and try to make there own decisions on what Tsai Ming-liang is trying to say. Even so, Tsai Ming-liang creates a story where each scene is interconnected in a very distinct manner. It should also be mentioned that Tsai Ming-liang has been compared to cinematic geniuses such as Robert Bresson and Jacques Tati. amazon.com




What Time Is It There? begins with an opening scene where an old man sits in melancholic loneliness next to the kitchen table smoking a cigarette. The scene goes on for a good five minutes as the old man struggles with the inhaling and exhaling of the cigarette before he departs the earthly world. The old man is the main character's father, Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-Sheng), who works as a street vendor selling watches in Taipei, Taiwan. Hsiao-kang is a Buddhist and he believes in reincarnation, which means that he must follow certain guidelines in order to help his father have the best possible reincarnation. amazon.com




Through Hsiao-kang's work he meets the attractive Shiang-chyi (Chen Shiang-Chyi) who wants to buy his personal watch as she finds it very appealing. At first Hsiao-kang refuses as he is in mourning and it would violate the guidelines of his belief. However, after some thinking Hsiao-kang agrees to sell his watch to Shiang-chyi as she needs it for her trip to Paris, France. It is this moment of the film that launches an emotional journey in the shadow of a spiritual crisis as Hsiao-kang worries about his father's reincarnation. Initially it brings amusement to the audience as Hsiao-kang attempts to set as many watches as he can in Taipei in French time as his watch is currently with Shiang-chyi in France. amazon.com




Tsai Ming-liang playfully uses the moment of selling the watch to create an astonishing cinematic event that is abundantly rich of subtle humor and simultaneous sadness. This conflict of feelings also brings a homage to François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, which Hsiao-kang buys in order to learn more about France. In addition, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Antoine Doinel in 400 Blows, makes a small cameo in the film where he meets Shiang-chyi on a bench in a graveyard as she is looking for a phone number to someone, assumingly Hsiao-kang. This scene conveys a strong sense of connection between Hsiao-kang and Shiang-chyi, yet the physical disconnection between the two in shape of distance in very real. What Time Is It There? presents a brilliant cinematic experience that goes far beyond what one can see on the screen. It also offers tribute to cinema itself as it seem to have influenced Tsai Ming-liang in several way. Lastly, it provides much pondering for those who seek a stimulating cinematic experience, which will not be forgotten by those who fully experienced Tsai Ming-liang at his best. amazon.com









Links to previous movie posts:

From 1# to 200# please refer to page :
200 Donat...ky in Nostalghia (1984)

201 Kenji... Life of Oharu') (1952)
202 Tsai ...e Is It There?') (2001)