Time Still Turns the Pages

"Time Still Turns the Pages," directed by Nick Cheuk, is a poignant family drama that resonates profoundly with the current emotional climate in Hong Kong. Released in 2023, this film emerges during a particularly dark period for the city, where reports of suicides have become alarmingly common. Cheuk skillfully portrays this heavy reality through the perspective of Cheng (Lo Chun-yip), a high school teacher dealing with the intricacies of his recent divorce while confronting the shocking revelation of a student's suicidal thoughts, discovered in a crumpled letter in a trash bin.

The film's storyline is both heartbreaking and uplifting, delving into themes of connection, empathy, and the critical need for mental health awareness. Cheng's quest to comprehend and assist his students while managing his own challenges is depicted with care and depth, making it a captivating experience for viewers of all ages.

This film has received considerable acclaim, earning five nominations at the esteemed 60th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director for Nick Cheuk, Best Actor for Lo Chun-yip, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. The film's ability to address such serious issues while fostering a sense of hope and resilience showcases its powerful narrative.

In addition to its nominations, the film has secured several awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography, further establishing its reputation as a remarkable work in modern cinema. The performances are truly exceptional, with Lo Chun-yip delivering a touching portrayal that resonates long after the film concludes.

It is an essential watch for anyone eager to engage with a story that is both relevant and deeply moving.

Giving this an 8/10 rating

The screening for this and all the weeks showing were all sold out, and for a good reason, the poster said IMDB rating of 7.8, that is a mistake, it sit is a 8, minimum for this.

Writer and director Nick Cheuk mast have experience on the subject matter dealt in this film, that, there is no doubt, as they themes os suicide, peer pressure at school, domestic abuse, all very tough subjects and need to be handled with care, and that is the case here.

Chun Yip Lo, brilliantly plays the lead in this terrible but extremely engaging story of his grief from childhood and the effect on his life, that an event in his job, brings the past back, which no one wants. His family is a complete mess, and as the film flows back and forth, you see the effects of decisions that have and you can relate to them.

Ronald Cheng, Charm Man Chan, Hanna Chan is just splendid, Yee Chun Jessica Chan is super, more of her character would of been nice, but the main stand out actors who have real work cut out for them are Henick Chou, Pak-Lim Curtis Ho, Sean Wong works real hard too.

This film is another great Chinese film, with so many out there, this one shines brightly, even if if is a tough watch.

Please don't begrudge your time to listen and care for the people around you. This action can save him or her, and it can also save yourself.

The writing is very detailed, and through a suicide note, it tells the protagonist's story, inner regret and sadness, and reveals the mental health problems that everyone may have caused by school or family or even interpersonal relationships. I'm sure we've all been through this. The film makes good use of reverse chronology to make the characters and themes more three-dimensional and touching.

After In Broad Daylight, this is another movie worth watching.

Scenes and lines that are constantly trying to convey messages. It's a bit burdensome. The continuous extreme situations that are set up to continuously unfold the theme were personally closer to disliking than liking. Even if the appearance is made up of calm directing, I don't think the extreme surrounding people and extreme situations are toned down.

Another regrettable thing is that the surrounding people of the main character are too many 1980s movie characters. They are too flat. I think they made the characters like this to conveniently reach the message, but because of the childish method, it's hard to get immersed.

Nevertheless, there were scenes and lines that resonated to the point where I was like, 'Wow!' and I agree with what this movie is trying to say. I wish more movies like this were made and made known to the world.

If A GUILTY CONSCIENCE (2023) is the biggest box-office hit in HK cinema history, and likely the front-runner at next year's HKFA for Best Picture, then Time Still Turns The Pages (2023) is likely its strongest competition next spring and definitely the best HK film for the second half of 2023. The understated performance director turned actor Lo Chun-Yip brings to his role is the highlight of the film - along with Rosa Maria Velasco, one of the most under-utilized acting talents in HK cinema at the moment who is great both on stage and screen - these two manage to deliver captivating performances to the audience and be the glue that keep every scene they appear in solid, whether alone or as part of the ensemble. While singer-actor Ronald Cheng is supposed to be the main, top-bill headliner, but in every shot and every beat he acts with his fellow cast, he shows to be at least a couple of notches below them - especially in the crucial hospital scenes with Lo Chun-Yip and Rachael Leung (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at this year's Golden Horse Awards for her strong performance as a mentally-challenged teenager in the film IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, which is constantly being compared to TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES due to both films' social commentary-driven stories).

There are a good number of Asian films from recent years that deal with bullying, domestic abuse, and their related dysfunctions (be it society, circumstances, or family), with Koreeda Hirokazu's KAIBATSU (2023) being one of the most notable examples of late. Director Nick Cheuk, who also wrote the screenplay, knocked it out of the park with his feature film debut, and TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES (2023) is worthy of discussion in the topic of filmic depictions of bullying, dysfunctions in parenting and the education system, in the same class as KAIBATSU (2023). As a first-time feature-film director, he had a great ensemble cast (not forgetting the key child actors, and those who were cast to play the leads' teenage versions), and behind the camera he was flanked by a great crew, including Exec Producer Derek Yee (who is also the EP for IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, the other Indy-budget film driven by a Social Commentary premise), and Meteor Cheung as DP (Cheung also was DP to IN BROAD DAYLIGHT). This is the kind of story director Koreeda Hirokazu would have loved to be able to helm, and in spite of all the rants about HK's Film industry can no longer sustain without co-prod with north-bound cross-market appeal, these films (along with the recent indy documentary TO BE CONTINUED... (2023)) really help exemplify the fighting spirit of HK movies from past to present - Producer Derek Yee proudly exclaimed that while big budget films are getting harder to finance without co-prod and cross-market selling points integrated into the film/story, low budget films are where miracles can happen - the reason why he would produce a film with an inexperienced director is so the film can benefit from the passion and innocence of these talents who don't see the hard work as just work for next to nothing in pay, and they are willing to give everything they have to make sure their story is told well, as they may not get to do it again if it fails. Whether films made in HK for the Hong Kong audience can survive remains to be seen (yet this story will definitely resonate across markets beyond north of the border), as not every one of these passion-driven projects work, but the ones that work do give us hope, and that's the fighting spirit that helped to make the mark for HK films in the past and will continue to drive Hong Kong cinema forward.