Time Freak

it's absolutely 💯 sweet to watch, although

This modern-tech take on the "Groundhog day" with a touch of "Back to the Future" starts interesting. It has some good or at least interesting jokes. Like, our main character has a time machine that he controls with a phone. And it often malfunctions, showing the silly "busy" signs (whatever happened to the good-old sand-watch?), or simply flashing silly or showing that some feature "is offline". Also, the idea that he tries to fix things he did wrong in the past with his girlfriend, presumably making him dump him, but it doesn't help, she still dumps him, is interesting. But, by the time they ditch that idea, as he does manage to "evade the dumping", things take a turn for the worse. The fun and funny start taking a back seat, but other stuff wasn't that good to begin with - and it, too, gets worse. By the end, we have a silly and misguided feminist rant about "you can't control me" and a bunch of other stuff not making much sense. Story is lost, point is lost... hell, pretty much all is lost. So, it's a pity. They were on to something, but couldn't close the deal.

I saw the pre-screening of this film more than a year ago and was incredibly disappointed at the time. I wrote my honest opinions in the following questionnaire hoping that maybe some changes could be made in post-production. When I rewatched it, I was disappointed to see everything was exactly as it was. Skyler Gisondo is the best part of the film, and sorely under utilized. The main character, whose mission to win back his ex-girlfriend through time travel, is completely unsympathetic and creepy. The way he clings to this idyllic notion of his relationship is not only super unhealthy for himself, but is also controlling and manipulative to the point where I was hoping that somehow, Sophie Turner's character would find him out and break up with him. I feel like this movie spreads a dangerous message that it okay to do whatever you want to maintain a relationship that you don't want to lose. If the movie ended with Debbie finding out Stillman, calling him out on his borderline abusive behaviour, and breaking up with him, I would be much more willing to rate this movie slightly better. However, it doesn't end like that. His destruction of the time machine is meant to seem heroic for some reason, but it's a very hollow "sacrifice" given that Debbie ultimately forgives him and they get back together. All sense of Debbie's agency is essentially forcibly stripped from her throughout the movie under the guise of love, and Stillman never actually faces the consequences.

There's so much more here than meets the eye. Don't assume you know what it is from the trailer or poster. Great cast, sharp and honest writing. We can all relate to the idea of regretting past mistakes - but what if you could re-live those moments? Could you fix them? The power of regret, the importance of living in the moment. See it! In theatres if you can - it's beautifully shot and the score is tight.