A bittersweet ode to the inevitability of time, change, and loss, balanced by a portrait of love so profound it exceeds generations, the documentary Our Time Machine is a beautiful experience. At the center of the film is an internationally renowned Chinese performance artist who goes by the name Maleonn. A boyish man in his 40s, Maleonn’s world is pure magic, a combination of spectacular, enormous puppets, theater, shadows, photography and more.
When we meet him, he has a lot on his mind. His father, Ma Ke, a legendary director of the Beijing Opera and Shanghai Opera, is sliding into dementia at the exact moment Maleonn is ready to collaborate with him on a dazzling premiere stage production called Papa’s Time Machine. Their longtime goal of working together unravels as Ma Ke struggles to clear his head and remember details for a proposed memoir he will never be able to write.
Maleonn’s disappointment is in many ways personal: he wants to be, as he puts it, a “great son,” which means taking on responsibility for his parents at the exact moment Papa’s Time Machine is desperate for funds and he is in a serious relationship headed toward marriage. Filmmakers S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun bring enormous sensitivity to their observational camera, which captures this family at many delicate moments of recognition that Ma’s memory is disappearing by degrees.
Every time Ma insists there was a time he could command hundreds in Chinese opera and remember every line in a script, one’s heart breaks a little for his lost powers. But in the end, this is a story about how love and genuine goodwill take care of the people who share these powerful motivators, even if outcomes differ from what one might have planned. Strongly recommended. I, J, H, C, P.