Lauded short film director Nacho Vigalondo makes his feature debut with this tense, unstoppable vision of science and natural law gone awry.
Prepare for a time based review trifecta, triad or any other word for a group of three beginning with "t". First up is a time travelling head twister from Spain - Timecrimes or Los Cronocrímenes as it is called in its native tongue. Filmed on a low-budget director Nacho Vigalondo crafts out an engrossing thriller with the ninety minutes he has available to him.
Apologies in advance for the oxymoron use here, but the plot of Timecrimes is simply intricate. Now the device of time travel isn't new to film. Most of us have seen it used to some extent before. Whether it is in the classic Back to the Future series, where it is used quite jovially or to the mind boggling extent in a film such as Primer. Time travel has even seeped into our television series. Shows such as the recently concluded Lost have used it as a narrative device. And I am quite glad that time travel is getting its moment in the spotlight. Time travel has always fascinated me, and in Timecrimes it is used effectively on a smallish scale to tell an engrossing story.
Right off the bat, when watching Timecrimes you will begin to notice the limited locations and the non-appearance of a major 'star'. But that is to be expected with a film of this budget. Don't let such nuances put you off, as the performance from the main actor and the limited locations are not to the films detriment.
You have Hector, his country house and the surrounding wooded area. And for your trip; apologies trips, throughout the movie that is pretty much your lot. However, Karra Elejade as Hector is more the competent in the protagonist role, and the lack of locations is quickly forgotten when the plot unfolds relatively quickly. If this film plodded along in an attempt to reach the two hour mark and in doing so resorted to ridiculous plot points along the way then it would not be receiving a favourable grade from me. Thankfully Timecrimes doesn't overstay its welcome, and goes along a fairly intelligent route with its tackling of time travel. There is however a moment in a film that seems to pop its ugly head up in the majority of time travel films nowadays; and that is the 'scientific' explanation. In this films case it is with the infamous squiggly line with a few crosses darted about it. Don't worry, that last sentence will all become clear when watching the film. That is indeed if you choose to pick the film up. But I would suggest a click purchase for a copy of Timecrimes as it is more than worth your time, pardon the poorly attempted pun.
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Spanish time travel thriller starring Karra Elejalde as Hector, a married middle-aged man who ventures to investigate when he sees a naked woman in the woods near his new home while looking through his binoculars. But as he approaches the place where he thought he saw the woman, he is viciously stabbed by a masked stranger, and runs for his life. However, it soon transpires that there's no way out as Hector realises he has become an accomplice in a crime of his own making...
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Hector (Karra Elejalde) has just moved into his dream country home with wife (Candela Fernandez). He is relaxing on a lawn chair outside of his new home surveying the nearby hillside through a pair of binoculars, when he catches sight of what appears to be a nude woman amidst the trees. Hiking up to investigate, he is attacked by a sinister figure whose head is wrapped in a grotesque, pink bandage. Fleeing in terror, he takes refuge in a laboratory atop the hill, where a lone attendant (director Nacho Vigalondo) ushers him in to a peculiar scientific contraption. He emerges what seems to be moments later, only to find that he has traveled back hours in time, setting in motion a brain-twisting, horrifying chain of events when he inadvertently runs into himself. Director Nacho Vigalondo was nominated for an Oscar for his live action short film 7.35 in the Morning and Timescrimes is soon to be remade in the English Language, with David Cronenberg mooted as a possible director.
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