Timecrimes (2007)
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
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17 films that influenced Timecrimes
What critics say influenced Timecrimes
Fans of 2004's mind-bendingly complex time-travel exploration " Primer ," as well as those viewers that found that heady indie film too difficult to follow, should be first in line to see the Spanish-language "Timecrimes" ("Los cronocrímenes").
Less a mindfuck on the level of 2004's ingenious Primer than a sort of mental canoodle, this modestly diverting slice of shoestring Spanish sci-fi from writer/director/co-star Nacho Vigalondo proves yet again that time travel is an ambitious low-budget filmmaker's jumbo Erector Set.
But the same holds true for J.B. Priestley's play "Dangerous Corner," or the films "Back to the Future" or "Memento" or the little-known indie "Primer."
Similar in tone to Shane Carruth's too-smart-for-its-own-good Primer (in which a pair of Dallas engineers inadvertently whip up a time machine in their suburban garage) but far more engaging, Timecrimes has nabbed a spate of awards, among them the Next Wave award at 2007's Fantastic Fest.
Filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo has infused the proceedings with an unapologetically hard-edged sensibility that's ultimately reminiscent of Shane Carruth's similarly-themed 2004 effort Primer, although there's little doubt that Timecrimes fares a whole lot better than its intriguing yet hopelessly impenetrable predecessor - as Vigalondo generally does a nice job of ensuring that the movie remains easy enough to follow for the duration of its appropriately brisk running time.
Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes), Nacho Vigalondo's zero-budget exercise in kitchen-sink quantum metaphysics, doesn't fuck itself with an unearned sense of smug self-satisfaction like Shane Carruth's Primer , but it does prove to be more tantalizing than satisfying.
He gets more than he bargained for, however, when a bandaged (à la The Invisible Man) madman attacks him with a pair of scissors.
Here’s a little Guillermo del Toro, there’s a dash of Frankenstein and The Creature From the Black Lagoon, with a shaker of Frankenheimer’s Seconds, all simmered in a stew of Philip K. Dick.
" The Time Machine ," the "Back to the Future" trilogyare usually fascinating, but not always easy to pull off.
But the same holds true for J.B. Priestley's play "Dangerous Corner," or the films "Back to the Future" or "Memento" or the little-known indie "Primer."
This Spanish, sci-fi thriller is thematically linked to the archetypal time-travel puzzles and predicaments found in Primer and Back to the Future.
When his hero, Hector, finds himself bounced back in time by a few hours, he operates under the assumption that his presence in the past is much like Marty’s adventure in Back to the Future.
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After all, it was Videodrome, the Canadian auteur’s 1983 what-is-reality mindfuck that set the pattern for several generations of cinematic headtrips of which Vigalonda’s film stands as the latest example.
So was the way Elejalde's putty face seems to transform from Rowan Atkinson to Sam Raimi's "Darkman" to Boris Karloff to the Toxic Avenger with a simple application of gauze or gore.
Whether intentionally or not, Vigalondo peppers this, his first feature, with references to other movies - "Frankenstein," "The Elephant Man," "Lost Highway," "Seconds" and "The Time Machine" immediately come to mind.
Whether intentionally or not, Vigalondo peppers this, his first feature, with references to other movies - "Frankenstein," "The Elephant Man," "Lost Highway," "Seconds" and "The Time Machine" immediately come to mind.
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The story is ingeniously mounted, too, and the tricky cinematography by Flavio Martínez Labiano (2001's " Bones ") is both dynamic and menacing.
" The Time Machine ," the "Back to the Future" trilogyare usually fascinating, but not always easy to pull off.
Whether intentionally or not, Vigalondo peppers this, his first feature, with references to other movies - "Frankenstein," "The Elephant Man," "Lost Highway," "Seconds" and "The Time Machine" immediately come to mind.