Movie Review: Time Lapse

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Ooh! Have I got a doozy of a movie for you! Time Lapse, which I saw on Netflix, is the kind of film that word of mouth might push into cult status. If you don’t have Netflix, Amazon has it also.

The Film’s Origins

Premiering in 2014, the sci-fi thriller was the feature film directorial debut of Bradley King. The story, also written by King, draws from an old Twilight Zone episode, “A Most Unusual Camera.” That episode aired on December 16, 1960, and was about a husband and wife theft team who stole a camera, which they discovered produced photographs 5 minutes into the future.

In Time Lapse, the relationship dynamics of the 3 main characters and the use of only 1 location are drawn from Shallow Grave, a 1994 film by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting).

Compelling Time Travel Flick

Hubby and I started watching it and ended up glued to the end. Not because the characters were so charismatic and likable–they weren’t. Like so many movies peopled with young drug-using characters who seem disenfranchised–probably due to their own unwise decisions–this film was like a slow-motion car crash. Yet, like a terrible car crash, one finds it impossible to not look.

Time Lapse is about a machine that is capable of taking pictures 24 hours into the future. When 3 slacker friends–Finn (Matt O’Leary), Jasper (George Finn), and Callie (Danielle Panabaker)–discover the machine in their neighbor’s apartment and learn what it can do, they concoct a scheme to use it for personal gain.

Like everything that is too good to be true, they revel in their new-found wealth and ignore the escalating weirdness in the photographs the machine spits out even though each glimpse of the near future is more disturbing than the previous day.

Up The Ante

Throw in a seriously scary thug and his enforcer, greed, the roommates’ slide into paranoia, and escalating violence, and your sense of foreboding grows until you’re on the edge of the seat just waiting for the explosive ending. When it comes, it’s a surprise.

No, Time Lapse isn’t a flawless film, and you may not particularly like the characters, except perhaps Finn who seems to have a conscience, but it is an original thriller that will keep you guessing.

Takeaway Truth

This little sleeper of a film is definitely worth a look–especially if you appreciate the fine art of irony.