A Time to Remember

cover

Year of release: 1998

Genre: historical drama

Director: Ye Daying

Producers: Chow Fu-Hung, Huen Ga-Ling

Writer: Jiang Qi-Tao

Cinematography: Zhang Li

Editing: Cheng Long

Music: Cheung Chin-Yat

Stars: Leslie Cheung, Mei Ting, Todd Babcock, Robert Machray, Tao Ze-Ru, Yip Dan-Dan

Rated IIB for violence

Movie Review Index
Main Page

A Time to Remember  A Time to Remember

A Time to Remember  A Time to Remember

Like many Mainland productions, A Time to Remember -- as mandated by the Chinese government -- has a vein of pro-Communist propaganda running through it. Even though you might think a film that tells the story of an American doctor living in Shanghai during the years after World War II would be a little more laid-back in concentrating on this aspect, it's actually the total opposite, as A Time to Remember is even more outright and blatant than usual in its' pushing of political messages, to the point that the audience (especially members from the west) will probably quickly become bored and/or insulted.

The doctor in question is Robert Payne (flatly played here by Todd Babcock) who would later become a writer and professor of literature. It is off of his diaries of his time in Shanghai and his relationship with Communist revolutionary leader Wen Yiduo (essayed by Leslie Cheung) that the movie is based. However, given both the Chinese government's predilection for white-washing (or, rather, red-washing) history and Payne's track record of shoddy researching and fact embellishment, it's hard to tell if there is indeed any truth presented in this so-called true story.

As a biographical and/or historical picture, A Time to Remember fails on all levels, being so obviously altered from actual events, that it becomes more of a ninety-minute infomercial for the Communist party, rather than anything resembling entertainment. Yes, a major part of the art of film is audience manipulation, to make the series of pictures shown on a screen seem real -- but the audience should not be so aware of the strings on their arms, being pulled like a marionette by the director, or, this case, government officials.

Some reviews that I have read have pointed out how good the film looks. Unfortunately, even that aspect was lost on this particular writer, as the extremely soft transfer on the City Connection DVD washed out what very well might have been solid cinematography. It also didn't help matters that the subtitles, which were always on the screen, even though most of the movie's dialogue is in English, were horribly translated, and not even in a fun "Chinglish" way. They were just simply distracting and annoying. Elements such as these are small things in the overall scope, to be sure. But for a production like this, they serve as nails in the coffin for whatever sort of enjoyment the viewer might be looking for. Even die-hard Leslie Cheung fans will have a hard time slogging through this picture.

RATING: 3