Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) has a thing about time in Tsai Ming-liang film
WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? (NI NA BIAN JI DIAN) (Tsai Ming-liang, 2001)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Friday, April 24, $12, 7:00
Series runs through April 26
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
Malaysian-born Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s What Time Is It There? is one heck of an existential hoot. When his father (Miao Tien) dies, Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng), who sells watches on the street in Taipei, becomes obsessed with a series of things: a strange woman (Chen Shiang-chyi) who insists on buying Hsiao-kang’s own watch and then leaves for Paris; Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Tsai’s “all-time favorite film”); urinating in whatever is near his bed instead of going to the bathroom; and changing clocks to Paris time. Meanwhile, his mother (Lu Yi-ching) is determined to follow ridiculous rituals to bring her husband back, and the woman in Paris (Cecilia Yip) goes through a number of bizarre events as well. There is not a single camera movement in the film (except for in the 400 Blows film clips); the scenes are shot by Benoît Delhomme in long takes, often lingering before and after any action — when there is any action. The dialogue is spare, ironic, and hysterical. If you like your movies straightforward and linear, then this is not for you, but we loved this absolute riot of a film. And yes, that person sitting on the bench in the cemetery is exactly who you think it is. One of several Tsai films in which Lee portrays a version of Hsiao-kang, What Time Is It There? is screening April 24 at 7:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s fourteen-film tribute to Tsai’s career; other upcoming films include Rebels of the Neon God, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, Face (introduced by La Frances Hui), Journey to the West, and Goodbye, Dragon Inn (introduced by Nick Pinkerton).