Five Minutes in the Grandfather Clock on Watchmaker’s Alley, 1986

In 1986, in a watch-repair alley in the southern city of Liancheng, state-owned watchmaker Chen Shouyi discovers by chance that an old clock in an abandoned warehouse can “see five minutes into the future.” But every time he uses this power, an old object in the alley vanishes without a trace. As he sticks to the rules of the state-owned factory and clutches the Shanghai brand wristwatch his wife left behind, he crosses paths with Zhao Xiaohong, a “speculator” running a cassette stall. As old and new collide, should he trade the future for his daughter’s life, or hold on to his memories and live an honest, steady life? The old clock ticks on, measuring both the warmth and bustle of the 1980s and the tenderness ordinary people keep hidden in their rough-edged lives.