Description:

What Time Is It There?

(Tsai Ming-Liang, 2001, Taiwan/France, 35mm, 116 min.)
In Mandarin, Taiwanese and French with English subtitles

Droll, deadpan, and deliberate, Tsai Ming-Liang’s What Time Is It There? was instantly recognized upon its 2001 release as a landmark of contemporary world cinema, and has only grown in poignancy since. The film follows parallel stories of isolation and longing in an era of globalization. Hsiao Kang is a street vendor living with his recently-widowed mother in Taipei; Shiang-Chyi is a young woman who buys a dual-time watch from him before traveling to Paris. As Hsiao Kang begins to obsessively change every clock he sees to Paris time, Shiang-Chyi struggles to find human connection in an unfamiliar city. Tsai’s laconic, long-take style yields rich rewards for attentive viewers, delivering gorgeous images, wry humor, and a rare depth of feeling.

Corey Byrnes, Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese Culture at Northwestern University, will introduce the film.