Ni na bian ji dian (What Time Is It Over There?) (2001)

84% of critics liked it
(50 reviews)
80% of users liked it
(3,449 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 the… 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

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 56 min.
Directed By: Ming-liang Tsai
Written By: Pi-Ying Yang, Tsai Ming-Liang, Ming-liang Tsai
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International

In Theaters: May 15, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Aug 20, 2002
Studio: Winstar Cinemas

Critic Reviews

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.
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.
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
At times, Tsai's approach makes viewing this film like watching paint dry, but what a sublime design it makes.
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.
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.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
What Time Is It There? is not easy. It haunts you, you can't forget it, you admire its conception and are able to resolve some of the confusions you had while watching it.
Derek Smith, Cinematic Reflections
The film's understated humor and relatable character's steer us towards feelings of compassion and understanding, rather than pity.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Wise and deadpan humorous.
Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY
A funny and moving meditation on yearning, mourning and the vagaries of time.
Tony Rayns, Sight and Sound
Tsai may be ploughing the same furrow once too often.
Jamie Russell, BBC
If you've the patience, there are great rewards here.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
The careful compositions in the Taiwanese What Time Is It There? give us plenty of time to search for meaning and to wonder what the movie is trying to say.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Has moments of quiet power and others of almost slapstick charm, and it's so elegantly fashioned that it's difficult to take one's eyes from the screen.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Rubia Carolina .

A girl is going to Paris. A watch seller. A cake as a gift. Two people connected by loneliness. Subtle humor, sadness, minimal dialogues, slow movie. <a href='http://img34.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10294762.jpg'><img… More
A girl is going to Paris. A watch seller. A cake as a gift. Two people connected by loneliness. Subtle humor, sadness, minimal dialogues, slow movie. <a href='http://img34.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10294762.jpg'><img src='http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4572/10294762.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a> This absolutely great film also brings an homage to Truffaut and a small part of Jean-Pierre Léaud. You don´t need to know The 400 blows, but if you do, you will definitely have another view of "What Time Is It There?". <br> <br>
Saskia D

I slow film about loss, emptiness, loneliness and the need to fill this up, to be somewhat in control and not being able to. Very delicate.