Ni na bian ji dian (What Time Is It Over There?) (2001)
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84% of critics liked it
(50 reviews) -
80% of users liked it
(3,505 ratings)
Master Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang directs this look at three people looking for human connection. Hsiao-kang (Tsai regular Lee Kang-sheng) is a young man who sells watches from a briefcase in front of Taipei's train station. When his father (Mio Tien) suddenly dies at the beginning of… More Master Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang directs this look at three people looking for human connection. Hsiao-kang (Tsai regular Lee Kang-sheng) is a young man who sells watches from a briefcase in front of Taipei's train station. When his father (Mio Tien) suddenly dies at the beginning of the film, it sends Hsiao-kang and his mother, Lu, on two radically different trajectories. His grieving mother becomes obsessed with the return of her dead husband's spirit. Hsiao-kang starts to urinate into plastic bags and bottles rather than risk bumping into his father's ghost in the middle of the night. Around that same time, Hsiao-kang encounters an aggressive, though beautiful, lass named Shiang-chyi (Chen Shiang-chyi) who is travelling in a couple of days to Paris. Entranced by the girl, he reluctantly sells her his own watch even though he believes that item has some connection to his father. The encounter leaves with Hsiao-kang with a fixation that Paris is in another time. Soon, he is changing each and every clock he can find back seven hours to Parisian time, forging an obscure connection to Shiang-chyi. Shiang-chyi herself finds Paris to be little different from Taipei in terms of alienation and isolation. Though she has run ins with several people, including an irate Frenchman in the middle of a lover's tiff and none other than Jean-Pierre Leaud in a cemetery, she only finds some comfort when she meets a woman from Hong Kong (Cecila Yip) who generously shares her hotel room with her. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Directed By
- Ming-liang Tsai
- Written By
- Pi-Ying Yang, Tsai Ming-Liang, Ming-liang Tsai
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, Art House & International
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- May 15, 2001 Wide
- On DVD
- Aug 20, 2002
- Studio
- Winstar Cinemas
Critic Reviews
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Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
While its careful pace and seemingly opaque story may not satisfy every moviegoer's appetite, the film's final scene is soaringly, transparently moving.
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Susan Stark, Detroit News
Tsai's confidence in the deep power of silence drives home the film's inner convictions. Its surface works coolly, intriguingly and, happily, feebly in opposition to the heart of the matter.
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Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
At times, Tsai's approach makes viewing this film like watching paint dry, but what a sublime design it makes.
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Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
Alternates between deadpan comedy and heartbreaking loneliness and isn't afraid to provoke introspection in both its characters and its audience.
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Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Mr. Tsai is a very original artist in his medium, and What Time Is It There? should be seen at the very least for its spasms of absurdist humor.
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Cast
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Kang-sheng Lee
as Hsiao-kang
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Shiang-chyi Chen
as Shiang-chyi
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Tien Miao
as Father
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Cecilia Yip
as Hong Kong Girl
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Jean-Pierre Léaud
as Man
