What Time Is It There?

"A wonderful, one-of-a-kind movie."--Newsweek

Named one of last year's "Ten Best" by Film Comment, What Time Is It There? is a quirky and touching love story by one of Taiwan's top filmmakers. A few days after the death of his father, a young street vendor in Taipei sells his father's watch to a young woman on her way to Paris.

Days later, disturbed by his mother's constant grieving, the young man finds solace in his memory of the girl and tries to commune with her by compulsively setting all the timepieces in Taipei to Paris time. At the same time, mysterious coincidences remind the girl of her friend halfway around the world.

The film brings an extraordinary light touch to themes of alienation and loneliness, teasing out the characters' "complicated emotional lives with a stillness and a dotty humor that is...breathtaking" (New Yorker).

With Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi, and French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud. (116 mins.)

Presented as part of Ohio State's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.