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What Time Is it There?

Ni na bian ji dian

Taiwan, France

2001

116 Min
Color
1.85:1
Taiwanese, Mandarin, French, English
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
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DIR Tsai Ming-liang

PROD Bruno Pésery

SCR Tsai Ming-liang, Yang Pi-ying

DP Benoît Delhomme

CAST Lee Kang-sheng, Tien Miao, Cecilia Yip, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Lu Yi-Ching, Chen Shiang-chyi

ED Chen Sheng-Chang

PROD DES Timmy Yip

Cannes (In Competition), Edinburgh (Eyes of the World), New York, AFI FEST, Queer Lisboa (Ciclo Tsai Ming-Liang)

Synopsis

Hsiao-Kang sells watches in the streets of Taipei for a living. A few days after his father’s death, he meets a young woman, Shiang-Chyi, who as it turns out leaves for Paris the very next day. Troubled by the behavior of his mother who prays constantly for the spirit of her late husband to return, Hsiao-Kang takes refuge in the memory of his brief encounter with Shiang-Chyi. In an effort to bridge the miles between them, he runs around setting all the watches and clocks in Taipei to Paris time. Meanwhile, in Paris, Shiang-Chyi confronts events that mysteriously seem to be connected with Hsiao-Kang. —screenrush.co.uk

Director

Original

Tsai Ming-liang

Along with Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang became one of Taiwan’s most prominent directors during the 1990s. His films regularly appeared in festivals around the globe and he received lavish praise from film critics worldwide. Born in Malaysia in 1957, Tsai moved to Taiwan and graduated from the Chinese Cultural University in 1982. For the next ten years, he worked in theater and writing screenplays for films and television. He directed his first feature in 1992, Rebels of the Neon God, which, with its tough but tender depictions of disaffected youth, earned him comparisons to Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In addition to Fassbinder, Tsai was also influenced by François Truffaut, to whom he was exposed as a student. His style differed from his idol Truffaut’s, however, like his countrymen Yang and Hou, Tsai preferred long takes, few close-ups, and sparse dialogue. And like another of his influences, Michelangelo Antonioni, he displayed a genius for placing the camera at… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 33 wall posts.
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anthony

7May13

This film is nothing less than an experience in re-learning what it means to see. When constantly surrounded by several avenues of instant gratification, there isn’t much that is as consummately fulfilling as taking the time to devote your attention to a film like this.

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Abhirup Maitra

16Mar13

A collage of melancholic images that will continue to stick for a VERY long time.Beautiful film.

Picture of Jason _

Jason _

10Mar13

hermoso film

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Bitė

21Jan13

this film hurts. a lot.

Slow Immersion likes this

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Expressing the Move

By Hoi Lun Law on December 17, 2012

Francois Truffaut, Tsai Ming-liang, and the “reverberation, ambiguity and suggestiveness” of the cinephiliac writerly impulse of “the move.”

read article
W184

Ecstatic Nostalgia: New Theater Work by Tsai Ming-liang

By Andrew Chan on December 5, 2011

Tsai offers both an intensified take on his brand of voyeurism and a sweet valentine to his cast of regulars.

read article
W184

Senses of Cinema 58, Events, More

By David Hudson on March 19, 2011

The event of the week in film criticism is the arrival of a new issue of Senses of Cinema, featuring a transcript of a talk Tsai Ming-liang

read article

Lists

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Reviews

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sinema keong

By homer harianj​a on August 13, 2010

What Time Is It There dibuka dengan shot statis berdurasi panjang, seorang lelaki tua baru saja keluar dari kamarnya. Dia memanggil Hsiao Kang, anaknya sebelum duduk di depan meja makan. Dia duduk…  read review

Striking Juxtapositions

By Jeremy Moss on May 31, 2010

Oh wow.  This was the first film by Ling-Miang I have seen and I was immediately struck by the austere and structured photography.  The camera never moves.  Music is minimal minimal, if at all.  Yet…  read review

Untitled

By jimmylo​running on November 15, 2009

A re-“watch”. This time, the movie was less funny, but more tender, and even sadder than before. I was struck by the sadness of seemingly awkward private gestures, the girl stuffing her face with crackers…  read review

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