R E V I E W
WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?
2001. 116 minutes.
Directed by Tsai Ming-Liang
The director's previous film, The Hole, was dramatically and visually uninvolving when I tried to watch it on television. On a much larger cinema screen, Tsai Ming-Liang's drab palette and static framing commands the viewer's attention to a far greater degree.
All color has drained away from the lives of the main characters. Two of them live together in Taipei, Taiwan, but it is the actions of a third that sets the plot in motion. She wants to buy a street peddler's dual-zone watch for her trip to Paris; the peddler initially resists. Not only is it his own personal watch, but since his father has only recently died, it would bring bad fortune to the woman were she to buy it while he is still in mourning. She persists, taking his card and phoning him several times, and he relents the next day. As a thank you, she buys him a small cake and departs.
His life previous to his encounter with the woman has been ordinary in the extreme. He offers watches by day, and at night returns home to the apartment he shares with his mother. Beset by quiet grief, she years for the return of her husband in reincarnated or spirit form. She searches carefully for any little sign of his return. So when her son begins setting every available clock to Paris time, she takes it as a hopeful sign from her husband, and then becomes obsessive about doing everything possible to hasten his presence.
Her son's decision to change a large variety of timepieces makes sense, in view of the mundance existence that we've observed. The small gesture of the Paris-bound woman takes on great significance in the watch seller's life, and it leads to unexpected comedy and strange encounters.
The woman herself, seen on a tourist visit that takes in none of the usual sights, is isolated by her status as a solitary traveler and her lack of fluency in French. She is distracted by strange sounds coming from upstairs. She continually tries to make a phone call. Is she trying to call the watch seller?
Eventually the three ordinary people seek a similar release of emotion. No one is satisfied, and no questions are answered.
The film requires a great deal of patience. It allows more breathing space than is needed, especially once its main points are made, due to its extremely measured pace. The close encounters with three ordinary people is quite umcomfortable at times, yet is ultimately rewarding.
See it in a cinema if you can; it has much less chance of making an impact if viewed on a television screen.
(Reviewed by Peter A. Martin; March 25, 2002)
Copyright 2000-2002 by Peter A. Martin. All rights reserved.
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