Teacher Cheng is distressed to discover a suicide note in one of the bins at his school. Discussing with his colleagues, Cheng tries to find out who wrote the letter before something tragic happens and begins interviewing the different teens in his class. Troubled youth Victor is of special interest, though he refuses any help and Cheng struggles with a feeling of helplessness. This makes him reflect on his own traumatic upbringing where his tyrannical father (Ronald Cheng) demands the very best of his children – and is not afraid of beating them into submission.
Nick Cheuk makes his directorial debut (at least on the big screen) with this powerful drama that tackles the very real dangers of overwhelming mental health issues affecting the next generation. ‘Time Still Turns the Pages’ is a difficult watch; some scenes are especially resonant and stay with the viewer long after the credits role. While these individual scenes make for challenging viewing, even more haunting is the sense of futility at the end; like life, there isn’t a neat resolution and, after the credits roll, that stays with the audience.
‘Time Still Turns the Pages’ is a poetic title hiding the sad axiom that we are, to some extent, the result of our childhood. Perhaps the fatalism of this is the film’s weak point as it has a heart-wrenching theme yet doesn’t suggest that we are not just victims of past trauma. Easy to say of course, but it would have been encouraging to see a challenge to the prevailing narrative of ‘brutal father equals emotionally stunted adult’. This is a minor quibble though as ‘Time Still Turns the Pages’ is an excellent drama that is strongly acted and directed with compassion and an understanding of the subject. Ronald Cheng excels in a role very different from his comedic past while the young performers are hard to fault – I’m still in awe (and slightly worried) when seeing child actors appearing in traumatic scenes on screen. ‘Time Still Turns the Pages’ is a film that intends to create necessary debate about the next generation and their mental health – it achieves its aim with skill and humanity.
- Time Still Turns The Pages - May 5, 2025
- Sanshiro Sugata - April 20, 2025
- Two Jolly Cops - April 10, 2025
