Timecrimes is a Paradoxical Tale
Timecrimes delves into the past, the future and a time machine that proves that anything that can be messed up once can be made worse the second and third times.
Written by The Horror Czar
April 14, 2009
Release: March 31, 2009 (U.S. DVD)
Written and Directed by: Nacho Vigalondo
Starring:
Karra Elejalde as Héctor
Candela Fernández as Clara
Bárbara Goenaga as La Chica en el Bosque
Nacho Vigalondo as El Joven
Ion Inciarte as Héctor Ocasional
Nacho Vigalondo, Spanish writer and director of Los Cronocrimenes (Timecrimes U.S.) has garnered quite a bit of attention over the last few years. It all started in 2005 when the young Spaniard, then just 28 years old, earned an Oscar nomination for his 2003 short film 7:15 in the Morning. Although the film did not take home the statue, a nod from the Academy is a great way to get tons of exposure for subsequent films – maybe even influence some to rant and rave a bit inappropriately.
Timecrimes chronicals the ordeal of Hector (Karra Elejalde), an unhappy-acting man with a new house in the countryside and an affinity for binoculars. One day while ignoring his wife and peering out at the woods with his glasses he spies something intriguing – a young woman taking off her blouse. As a side note, I had an overwhelming urge for Milk Duds… but the story continues.
Hector sends his wife off to town, to pick up dinner or do some shopping or something, and then ventures out in search of the bare-breasted dream girl, trusty binoculars in tow. What he finds is a mysterious man wrapped in pink bandages who attacks and then chases poor Hector. The flight to safety brings him to a strange compound complete with a single attendant and a time machine, and Hector is tricked into stepping inside. When he emerges from the machine he finds that it is the same day, but about 90 minutes earlier. What would Hector do differently if he had the last hour and a half to do over again?
The concept of time travel, cause and effect and the irony of events of the future causing a chain reaction in the past (and vice versa) is
intriguing and confusing, yet fascinating at the same time and a script depicting such a paradox is on slippery ground from the beginning. Vigalondo pulls it off well, however, and ultimately most of Timecrimes makes sense. Those of us with any Star Trek knowledge know that the concept of time travel and the paradox of the past being the future and the future being the past has received a lot of play in Science Fiction.
The primary trouble with Timecrimes has nothing to do with the concept, but rather the execution; specifically, the lead character Hector is about as unlikable as any character has ever been. So mundane, so unpleasant – if there had been a swirling vortex of flesh-eating space-time I would have gladly tossed him in. Makes it difficult to care whether he gets himself out of his current time-travel pickle. Of course, this Spanish film was dubbed in English for my viewing, and perhaps the voice-over “artist” is partially to blame for Hector’s annoying drones.
Overall, Timecrimes is interesting to watch and not completely torturous, but I suspect that there are other factors at work here in how well this film has been received by the festival circuit and general movie critics. Writer/Director Vigalondo was once nominated for an Oscar – bonus points for that. He didn’t win, and he’s very young with his entire future ahead of him – a few more bonus points. Timecrimes was filmed in Spanish which is hot right now – a couple more bonus points there. The paradox of time travel is pretty cool… let’s add a few more.
The truth: This is a barely passable film by a promising filmmaker that may be looked back on as an early-work cult favorite as soon as Nacho Vigalondo actually makes a REALLY good film. Those who see more than that, I suspect, also attend Manhattan art galleries dressed in tragic black and see deep existential meaning in an acrylic painted by a handful of earthworms. Questions or comments about Timecrimes? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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