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What Time Is It There?
Winstar Cinema

What Time Is It There? reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 79 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.0 out of 10
based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-ching Lu, Tien Miao, Chao-jung Chen, Cecilia Yip, and Jean-Pierre Léaud

A young Taipei watch vendor (Lee) falls in love with a girl (Chen) just as she leaves to go to Paris, inspiring him to set all the clocks in the city to French time.


GENRE(S): Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Tsai Ming-liang
Yang Pi-ying
 
DIRECTED BY: Tsai Ming-liang  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: August 20, 2002 
Video: August 20, 2002 
Theatrical: January 11, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 116 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: France / Taiwan 
LANGUAGE(S): Cantonese / French / Mandarin (with English subtitles) 

Original Taiwanese title "Ni neibian jidian"

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Tsai builds this shimmering story with deft, deadpan wit and a warm, understated love of the absurd, both in life and afterlife.
Read Full Review
100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Tsai's cinematic style is unique: He unfolds his stories in long, static shots that let you discover their surprises and mysteries on your own. And that's great fun. What Time Is It There? is perky, entertaining, and one of a kind.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Tsai not only gives the audience a chance to breathe but also lets us luxuriate in the mood of deadpan melancholy his movie evokes so beautifully.
Read Full Review
90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Tsai's latest, What Time Is It There?, runs his usual themes and obsessions through a whimsical premise worthy of Wong Kar-Wai, striking such an exquisite balance between humor and despair that the moods comfortably coexist, just as they do in real life.
Read Full Review
90
Newsweek David Ansen
This wonderful, one-of-a-kind movie hops from Taiwan to France, from tragedy to deadpan comedy and, in its mysterious conclusion, from the worldly to the otherworldly.
90
Chicago Reader Staff (Not Credited)
Tsai Ming-liang's most exciting and original to date.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
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.
Read Full Review
88
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
While its careful pace and seemingly opaque story may not satisfy every moviegoer's appetite, the film's final scene is soaringly, transparently moving.
Read Full Review
80
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Filled with purposeful, if absurd, activity rendered gravely hilarious through Tsai's deadpan, distanced representation of extreme behavior.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
The story that emerges has elements of romance, tragedy and even silent-movie comedy.
Read Full Review
80
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Takes raw grief as its point of departure only to play out as a comedy of deadpan heartbreak.
Read Full Review
80
TV Guide Ken Fox
More of the same from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang, which is good news to anyone who's fallen under the sweet, melancholy spell of this unique director's previous films.
Read Full Review
80
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The result is a film of surprise and wonder, lyrically attuned to the ticking intensity of romance.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Charles Taylor
Tsai Ming-Liang's new movie about urban isolation reinvents the delicate, poetic shadow play of silent movies.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Very slowly builds to an emotional payoff in a devastating scene where the three main characters simultaneously seek relief in sex.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
This movie is not of a style that will speak to general audiences. It is nearly wordless, spare to a fare-thee-well.
70
New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
Those with an interest in new or singular sorts of film experiences will find What Time Is It There? well worth the time.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Is nothing if not foreign, but not in the sense of national demarcations of language and custom. It speaks a different cinematic language, one that tosses off the usual rules of camerawork and narrative structure.
Read Full Review
50
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
An art piece in which everything seems to be a metaphor for something else, and as pleasing as it is to watch, it's too pretentious by half.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Steven Winn
Things happen in a flat, deadpan way.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark L. gave it a10:
One of the best films of the last 10 years, easily.

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