Timecrimes [DVD]

Fantastic, enjoyable, refreshing and very satisfying. Don't try to guess the plot, let the film run and wash over you. I promise you, you will not regret watching this super little film. While it feels somewhat twee and homemade that only helps to draw you in to the story. Stop reading this review and buy it now!!

So, how do you like your time-travel? A clean-cut, enjoyable thriller a'la "Back To The Future" or "Time After Time", or perhaps something that really makes you think? Film viewers have their Art spoon-fed to them nowadays, by paranoid oligarchs who are terrified that anything perceived as challenging will afford them precious box-office, and God Knows What else.

Hence, if you aren't an Armchair Anarchist, you have to turn to the indies. And what can be more mind-twisting than the concept of time? Think Xeno of Elea, think Star Trek and "The City On The Edge Of Forever", think Quantum Physics. Shane Carruth started the trend back in 2004 with the astonishing "Primer", a film made for no money whatsoever and that relied on a masterful, convoluted script to make people return to it for repeat viewings. After watching it 10 times, I'm still nonplussed about a great many plot points (which I won't go into here, suffice to say you should see "Primer" immediately, or you're a monkey's uncle) which is not something you really have to worry about in regard to Nacho Vigalondo's film. You will understand it, you'll just have to really, really ponder how everything works. Remember that from films of yore? Good. Time to do so again.

Hector is an average Mediterranean type, apparently just moved into the countryside. After spying a naked girl acting strangely from the vantage point of his binoculars he decides to investigate (well, so would you, let's face it). In the process Hector is stabbed by a man in a trenchcoat with pink bandages rolled around his face, a MacGuffin that powers the movies plot from that point onwards... to go on would spoil the film for many, suffice to say that Hector stumbles on an apparent Time Machine that will decide his fate(s) from here on in. Vigalondo is a director who has previously specialised in shorts and miscellaneous writing gigs, but if this is anything to go by, we may be looking at the new Alex De La Iglesia here. Spain can make a good movie - well, better than us, that's for damn sure.

The Disc is looking like the usual bare-bones setup with no extras (does anybody really care about trailers as supplements? We've seen the film, we don't need to watch the advertisement for it afterwards), so we'll just have to wait for the inevitable 10-year Special Edition once the film has become a much-loved cult fixture. Also, the film has been slated for a remake by Hollywood in 2011, so get ahead of the pack and see the no-doubt vastly better original. Watch, please, your brain will thank you.

This is an excellent film that I'll recommend to anyone who likes a good even-paced thriller that keeps you gripped throughout.

Not going to say more about the plot save to say it is really worth watching!

The DVD cover picture may suggest a horror film or level of horror that isn't present so don't be put off by this. What the film does have is an excellent level of suspense with a well-thought out plot. Certainly if you set aside the basic premise of the impossibilities surrounding time-travel, then the remainder of the plot unfolds with a level credibility to often missed in modern films.

I just wonder why I'd never come across it before!