The Time of Huannan (2023)

A Movie that captivates the soul

This left such an incredibly deep impression on me that even now, as I reminisce and try to write a review, I have tears in my eyes. I've watched the film several times and will probably never get enough. It’s a beautifully heartfelt film with outstanding performances from everyone. When I first watched it, I was left with an intense and beautiful feeling about life, friendship, love, and the moment. I thought to myself that each of us has our own "Isle of Capri song" moment, one in which we’d like to stay forever, where we feel alive, strong, and happy. And even though it's not possible—or maybe precisely because it’s not possible—we should deeply cherish every such moment that comes our way. We should live it, not hesitate, maybe even take risks. That same moment will never return.

The creators play with time here—from the perspective of time travel, aging, waiting for love—allowing the viewer to think and feel. Love is beautiful, crazy, patient, painful, and cruel, but above all, eternal. It can endure through time, transcend illness, and heal the soul. It can be the only thing that keeps a person going. All the relationships in this film are so real and well-developed. How difficult it must have been to love someone of the same gender in 1991, or how hard it must have been to wait for your love for 31 years. Just as a son who can't understand his aging father, who is slipping away from reality, but with knowledge of the past, suddenly truly understand and love him. (The scene of the son bathing his father in 2022 is probably my absolute favorite, as is the ending itself).

I was completely absorbed by it in every way—whether by the beautiful scenes, the theme of time travel, the cast, the costumes, or the music. I don’t categorize this film as BL, or a gay film, or even an Asian film; it belongs in the general category of all films and has become one of my absolute favorites. It is my wish for this film to reach as many viewers as possible. It’s true that not everyone may understand it, or not on the first viewing, but the creators made it in such a way that we cannot say who understands it and who doesn’t. Everyone can perceive it in their own way; everyone can see something different in it, or a different detail may matter to them. It can evoke different questions and answers in each person—or perhaps leave them unanswered—but emotionally, I believe most people will agree that it touches the soul. It is unique and exceptional. And I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to recommend it to absolutely everyone.

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Absolutely amazing movie

After the first viewing, I was surprised by the scope of the story, which I could not understand, and the absolutely perfect performances of the actors. Further, the story was sifted inside me, the individual scenes penetrated more and more deeply into my soul. The creators set the viewer in the mood with this exceptional piece so that it is not immediately clear and the story can be imagined from different angles. Yao Hua (a long-haired and headdressed symposia) is working at a butcher's stall in the market in 2022, his father is already a bit deranged, and suddenly Yao finds himself 31 years back in 1991, where he is mistaken for the missing Yong Hui-e and in the group of four friends he is especially interested in the only girl Kang Min, he sees a younger version of his father Bao Ding and finds out that the father is gay and in love with An Jian. I had tears in my eyes at some parts of the movie. The time (1991) in which Yao Hua finds himself is not as welcoming and open as the year 2022, in this year the first democratic changes are just beginning in Taiwan and the Kuomintang was abolished, and this time is excellently portrayed in the film. I also liked that all the characters are not gay like we sometimes see in Thai dramas, and that made everything more natural. Taiwan is a concept not only in the world of BL, and it is so, at least for me, here as well... The film needs to be watched at least two or three times. Excellent music.
The ending is not translated, about 58 subtitles, so we got a spoken word translation from a Slovak lady living in Taipei, who translated the ending into Czech (Czech and Slovak languages ​​are very similar and they understand each other).

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