Time Is Running Out: Michelle Yeoh Tries to Become a Rubik's Cube Champion in the Rocky Style

The true story of a former math teacher who became a puzzle champion in retirement is squeezed into the predictable formula of a sports film. Leonardo DiCaprio isn't eating raw Bactrian camel liver to get into character, but Michelle Yeoh reportedly spent two years learning the Rubik's Cube to prepare for her role as a Chinese teacher in the real-life drama. The true story of retirement is stretched and compressed here for the film's

The true story of a retired math teacher who became a puzzle champion is compressed into a predictable sports movie formula.

Tuesday 13 October 2026 10.00 CEST Last change on Tuesday 13 October 2026 10.01 CEST

I'm not quite with Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw bison liver to get into character, but Michelle Yeoh reportedly spent two years learning the Rubik's Cube to prepare for this Chinese drama, in which she plays a former math teacher who becomes a hero in retirement. The real story is stretched and compressed here, making for a fictional sports movie formula. It ends up being very entertaining and funny in places, but frustratingly predictable. The biggest surprise is that cubing is so popular that it has its own world championship.

Yeo, however, gives a terrific and poignant performance as the unhinged and moody Zhao Yanhong. After a stroke, Zhao lives in a nursing home where he is moody, assaults his robot caregiver, and makes illegal trips outside of the permit. He discovers his natural talent for the Rubik's Cube when a washed-up former hero named Wu Yuwei (Haoran Liu) comes to the nursing home to give a tutorial. What follows is a classic sports movie structure, with a warm-up and Zhao training day and night, lifting weights and pounding the city streets. (Yes, running in the Rubik's Cube movie is hard work; Zhao's physical strength is the weak point, says Wu, who agrees to be his coach.)

Yeo is furious as Zhao, who goes viral after punching a kid in his first match. Her online fans call her "Zhao's Grandma," and the film slowly dispels the stereotypes of the older generation. Fans think Zhao is a cuddly old man, while younger Kibers underestimate his skill and stamina. Yeoh brings intelligence to the role, but strangely, after making Zhao so stern and low-key, the film is all soft-edged with a bent center. Next up, can we expect a biopic of the six-year-old Chinese girl who recently set the world record for solving the Rubik's Cube in less than four seconds?