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Strong and Moving!

Admirable film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is probably the most infuriatingly tedious movie I've ever seen. Nearly every scene is the same -- the camera sits motionless as we watch someone putter around and do some inconsequential thing. Maybe it shows a guy watching a movie. Or a woman eating something. Or a widow pleasuring herself. Or (twice!) a guy taking a leak into whatever container is lying around. And after the inconsequential thing has been done, the camera just sits there. Maybe we're supposed to take this time in which *nothing is happening* (fully half the movie) to reflect on the mysteries of life. I just spent it getting madder and madder at the director for thinking that anyone could find this remotely interesting. Halfway through the movie, there's a scene in which a woman is staring at a fish tank. I actually envied her -- watching a fish bob around in a tank is more interesting than this pretentious nonsense.There's nothing innately wrong with slow films. Or quiet films. Or uneventful films. But SOMETHING has to develop throughout the course of the film, be it interesting dialogue or character development or the presentation of interesting ideas. Nothing of the sort happens here. Its message about loneliness is made clear within the first half hour and after that it's just directorial masturbation.

Tsai Ming-Liang is a Director you either "get" or don't. His work reminds me to a point of Jim Jarmusch, their pacing is similar. If you've ever seen and liked Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise", you will probably like this. The story introduces you to people who lead mostly ordinary lives, just in Taipei. Ming-Liang's use of the long shot (setting up a scene and waiting for something to happen-usually, very little does) is very important. I think it adds to the simplicity of the story, ostensibly about a watch salesman who sells the young lady the watch he is wearing. He then changes the clocks in Taipei to Parisian time, where the young lady is going on vacation. The film also captures the side story of the watch salesman's mom, who just lost her husband. She looks for ways for him to "come back". It is a bit sad, but also touching. She almost steals the film. For lovers of independent film, a must. If you liked "The Departed", forget it. I'd like to add two things: The interlude "The Skywalk Is Gone", appended on the "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" DVD, is a 20 minute short which is also worthwhile, continues the story. Lastly, "The Wayward Cloud", the real sequel, is not quite as good (I give it 7 out of 10). It has images of fairly explicit pornography. I do recommend it, but it, like all of Ming-Liang's films, is uncompromising. The only major complaint I have with it is the mother is barely in it. I miss her. I want to tell you how it ends, but I can't, I can't spoil it. In the theater watching "The Wayward Cloud", the guy sitting behind me was flat out snoring. I was wide awake. All in all, "What Time Is It There" cemented Tsai Ming-Liang's reputation as a force to be reckoned with. He deserves the praise.

I still keep What Time is it There? in my DVD collection because I find it to be a wonderful sleep aid. For a film of two hours it feels more like three days, and I have never been able to watch the entire thing all the way through. But when I do decide to give it another viewing, I find myself slowly drifting off again and again - so it's the perfect tranquilizer.I must say, I love some slow-moving films, and I don't mind a bit of art-house cinema here and there, but unfortunately What Time is it There? is not even engrossing enough to keep the viewer vaguely interested, unless you like watching some guy wee in a bottle.

"Terrible" has a reasonably good handle on describing the pace of this movie. I watch it and did found its lack of dialogue disturbing at first but had a level of curiosity high enough to enjoy it. It is a conversation piece since how many movies can you discuss where you basically remember each and every line (there are so few).The movie leaves enough open, and sometimes pointless, scenes to leave a great amount of room for interpretation. Reading the Director's comments helped a bit and I feel a great need to watch Truffaut's "400 Blows" given the numerous references in the movie and commentary. Then again there is enough that I have chalked up certain scenes to being meaningless. My take - Death happens, Celebrate the living.