Directed By: Richard Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy and Lydia Wilson
I give this movie a 7 out of 10
Overview/Summary:About Time starts out as a movie about a semi-geeky guy named Tim looking for love. Soon after the beginning of the movie her learns from his father that all of the men his family have the ability to go back in time. The movie takes off from there with Tim learning the ins and outs of the time travel. He quickly realizes that time travel has its limits and that he must be careful. He chooses to use his ability to find love. He meets Mary and they fall in love, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after... well sort of. The journey has its bumps as do all. By the end of the movie Tim has learned a lot about life and changed as a person. The movie itself also transforms, from one of a fun love story to one that has powerful things to say about what life should be and the time we spend in this world.
Cinematography and Key Scene:
While a lot of the movie revolves around conversation between characters the camera is still able to do some cool things. During conversation the camera does a lot of jumping back and forth between speaker and audience. This keeps the movie rather upbeat and lively. When the camera slows down you can tell when the sentimentality is going to be coming. The camera utilizes a lot of close ups on faces and for the time travel sequences the closed fists necessary to travel back in time. The lighting in the movie is generally pretty bright except in the dark rooms needed for traveling back, in which case the lighting takes on the opposite effect of dark and barely visible silhouettes. Another fun scene that uses cinematographic techniques interestingly is the scene when Tim meets Mary in a restaurant owned by blind people so the screen is actually black and the only thing going on s the sounds of the dinners.This black screen heightens our sense of hearing causing us to relate with the characters experiencing the complete darkness. Even when the lighting in the movie is dark though the average scene has a warmer feel to it. The only time this seems to be broken is when two serious events occur. The first being the car crash with Kit-Kat, Tim's younger sister, and the death of Tim's father. The lighting in these scenes gives a flatter feeling to these moments portraying the emotions of the family. Overall, the movie wasn't overtly cinematographically strange, but the movie definitely used its techniques effectively to convey what it intended to.
Reference:
As far as this movie goes the acting was great. The actors really seemed to get into their roles well and the message of the story was sincere and relatable. Rachel McAdams as always did a flawless job. She has the wife/girlfriend role down perfectly after having played in movies like The Vow, Midnight in Paris, and The Time Travelers Wife. Though put in the category of comedy drama sci-fi romance, the movie seems more a romance that has something more to say on life.
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Nice work here Amy. Good job outlining this movie. That's funny that you mentioned The Time Traveler's Wife, as it seems she's playing that again! Nice work explaining those cinematic elements.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy! I like a good romantic comedy every once in a while, and I had seen tons of commercials for this one, but it seemed pretty bad in the trailers. I didn't think I would like the premise of jumping through time and that having complications with a relationship. It seemed pretty cliché, and I don't like a lot of sci-fi. After reading your review, I might reconsider that because as you say, it might have some interesting statements on the way we spend our time and what we could correct if we had the choice. Usually movies like this don't have interesting cinematography, but it looks like you found some moments of that.
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