A Hong Kong schoolboy’s year-long contemplation of whether to end his own life, and the impact this episode has in the following decades, form the dual narrative of Time Still Turns the Pages, a deeply poignant tale of emotional torture, regret and redemption via open, honest communication.
First-time writer-director Nick Cheuk Yik-him was prompted to tackle the subject by a spate of youth suicides that made Hong Kong news headlines in 2015 – in reality, the problem has only worsened since – but this is not a conventional film about a social problem.
After impressing in art-house-inclined features such as No. 1 Chung Ying Street and Suk Suk, emerging actor Lo Chun-yip puts his sad-eyed charisma to great use in the role of Mr Cheng, a secondary-school teacher who is on the verge of divorce from his wife Sherry (Hanna Chan).
All his students, including a bullying victim in his class (Henick Chou Han-ning), have heard about his marital problems. But when the janitor finds an anonymous suicide note in his classroom’s rubbish bin, the perpetually sad Cheng embarks on an urgent mission to prevent another tragedy.
If the film’s quietly depressing first scene – in which a 10-year-old boy named Eli Cheng (Sean Wong Tsz-lok) makes his way to his residential building’s rooftop and readies himself to jump – has not made the story’s premise clear enough, that is because it is intentional.
Ronald Cheng in a still from “Time Still Turns the Pages”.
For much of the film, Cheuk keeps the connection between Eli and the seemingly guilt-ridden adult Mr Cheng vague, even as he repeatedly shows the latter reading the former’s diary and reliving the boy’s increasingly dark thoughts.
Through flashbacks narrated by the innocent Eli, we are shown the disintegration of his upper-middle-class family, which also includes a stern and occasionally abusive father ( Ronald Cheng Chung-kei), a long-suffering mother (Rosa Maria Velasco), and an indifferent brother (Curtis Ho Pak-lim) who is better than him at everything.
While there is a touch of miserabilism to the series of misfortunes that befall Eli – he fails his exams no matter how hard he tries, his beloved piano teacher is let go by his parents behind his back, and so on – the film manages to save its emotional gut punch for a transcendent third act.
Sean Wong in a still from “Time Still Turns the Pages”.
To say any more about its plot turns would be to spoil Cheuk’s carefully concealed attempt at tear-jerking. Suffice to say that, even with a brisk runtime of 95 minutes, he skilfully conveys layers of feeling in his heavy-hearted protagonists.
A contender in five categories at the coming Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan (including best narrative feature), Time Still Turns the Pages is a delicate little gem that can break your heart in multiple, sometimes rather unexpected, ways.
If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services.
In the US, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For a list of other nations’ helplines,see this page.
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