Time Crimes (Nacho Vigalondo, 2007): Spain

Reviewed by David Brown. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, LA

This movie was one of the most surprising of the entire AFI Film Festival. I went into this movie just looking for a time killer in between some other movies that I wanted to see and I was so glad I decided to see Time Crimes. This movie really left me wanting more and more every moment I was watching.
Nacho Vigalondo has made a few short films before this one and even has an Oscar nomination for best live action short. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he was nominated for an Oscar because Time Crimes is a modern classic movie.
The movie introduces to an average man named Hector who is moving into a new house with just him and his wife. One day Hector is sitting on the lawn of his new backyard and is checking out the scenery through some binoculars. He sees a very pretty naked girl in the woods and decides to go investigate as any normal man would. He finds the girl lying down unconscious by a big rock and moves in a little bit closer. Then he is stabbed by a mysterious man with a pink bandage around his face. Hector then runs away and finds another house to hide inside. As he is being chased he finds a walkie talkie and a man instructs him to come up to the bunker at the top of the hill. When he gets inside he is told the only safe place is inside a giant pool filled with a strange white liquid. The man helping him then closes the lid and then it reopens seconds later. The man who put him inside the machine looks confused and Hector asked him why he closed him inside. He soon realizes that this man has sent Hector an hour back in time. Now hector must put the pieces together and make things right because there are too many Hectors living in the time he was sent back to.
The acting in this film isn’t going to blow you back and make you wonder why these actors haven’t been discovered yet but they get the job done. Some of the acting seems a little ridiculous and feels put on but it doesn’t take away from this movie much. The directing and editing work together so well and it feels effortless. This movie could have been ruined because the story is very confusing but order was kept on the cutting floor and the story is easy for even a small child to follow. The music plays a pretty good roll in keeping you feeling the right emotions during scenes. The music again isn’t one of the things that stand out in this movie. The story is just so well written that it should have been picked up by some major studio.
This movie has most similarities to the movie Memento. It is a movie that keeps you guessing most of the way through. You don’t know where you have started in the story. It could be the beginning, middle, or end. But that doesn’t matter because you have the complete picture by the end of the story. You can’t really tell who the good or the bad guys are going to be until the conclusion of the movie. I wouldn’t actually compare this to any movie I have seen that is about time travel because this movie is all by its own. Most movies about time travel get caught up I one specific aspect of time travel and it always seems too farfetched. It was so well thought out and it doesn’t waste any time explaining the ridiculous concept of time travel. It gets to the point and tells a story without trying to be ridiculously scientific or over the top.
This movie is made for anyone looking to actually think about how movies can be made differently. This movie isn’t just entertaining it is one of the smartest of the year. This movie takes you on a trip that you won’t forget anytime soon.