Timecrimes
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
- science fiction
- thriller
The story
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.
What it’s like
Tight, static compositions in a rural Spanish landscape of green hills, pale sky and an unassuming laboratory, shot on a modest budget with a clean digital sheen and a cool, desaturated palette that warms only where the stakes creep in. The sound is sparse: ambient hum of machinery, birdsong, a repeated radio murmur, and a low, pulsing electronic score that surfaces in tense bursts and then falls away into near silence. The mood is deadpan unease that slides into giddy absurdity, a cool, puzzle-box thriller that rewards attention and suits a late-night watch with the lights off or a quiet weekend when you want something tightly plotted rather than soothing. Pacing is brisk and escalating, each small decision compounding into something stranger, and the emotional register stays wry and detached, following an ordinary, rather passive man who is pulled steadily into a situation he cannot control and is forced to become a more active, if increasingly unhinged, version of himself. Violence is brief but sharp, with a few abrupt injuries and one startling moment of physical menace; there is no gore and no sexual content, though the fear is real and creeping. It is for viewers who enjoy clever, low-key science fiction and time-loop puzzles, and who don't mind a story that grows more tangled and absurd as it goes.
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