The concept of being “stuck in the past” is explored both literally and figuratively in editor Michael Felker’s feature directorial debut, Things Will Be Different. This also applies to The title of this cleverly tense lo-fi time-travel crime thriller reads like a promise of change, overcoming past mistakes with hope for an improved future. And it’s around humanity’s need for second chances, its need for amends, that the filmmaker wraps up his sci-fi proposition, primarily about fascinating two-handed weapons.
In the aftermath of their first illegal robbery, estranged brother and sister Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dundee) discover that an old manual clock and a seemingly nondescript closet lead them on a journey. Head to a remote farmhouse. Go back in time. If they follow the instructions of Joseph’s friends and wait a few weeks until they return to their own timeline (which Sydney has to do to take care of her daughter), they will clean up their act. , you will be able to store your loot.
Evidence that they were transported to another time comes in the form of physical media lying around the house: VHS tapes, CDs, and later tape recorders that function as communication devices across time and space. . This is a clever detail from the filmmakers. part. At first, the two spend time reconnecting, but the wound between them is open, but once the incubation period is over, they are unable to be separated. They have entered a “vicious rule” and must wait and kill unwelcome visitors in order to return home.
Faced with rules similar to the afterlife in the movie Beetlejuice, Joseph and Sidney cannot go too far from the compound or they will bleed to death. A line of blood, presumably left by those attempting to escape the time prison, demarcates the areas where they can live. There is no terminology or complete explanation of quantum physics, but there are people who control what happens on this side of the portal. At one point, Sidney puts forward some theories based on photos he finds in the house, but never gets a definitive answer.
Cinematographer Carissa Dawson made a number of strong visual choices to visually represent the story’s themes and bring the frame to life, and set up two actors in the same location (now independent). (which has become a derisive metaphor for Japanese movies) keeps it from feeling stale. One example is a 360-degree pan that shows the changing seasons to convey the year the brothers spent trapped in this limbo. Later, another similar camera movement not only intensifies the film’s unsettling atmosphere, but also reminds us of the circular motion of a clock’s hands, mimicking how time is experienced as a loop. Match-cut close-ups occasionally link past and present, but the choice of lens blurs the edges, as if time is being physically stretched.
But the flourishes of these films take precedence over Thompson and Dundee’s performances. The actors reflect each other’s emotional pain, sometimes overacting a bit, but the characters grapple with both their current situations and potential resentments, and what they’ve done and are going through with each other. It depicts how it is affected. of a continuum. Given Joseph’s rugged demeanor, Thompson’s internal explosion lands with a thud. As he falls, the prospect of either death or eternal wandering dawns upon him, and the weight of the film’s stakes is felt. Dandy stands her ground and plays Sidney with incredible coldness, suggesting that she is the more level-headed of the two and that she still cannot fully trust Joseph.
But because the story is so caught up in its intent to cover up as much as possible while simultaneously getting into the weeds of time-travel mechanics, “Things Will Be Different” is more Christopher Christopher than Rian Johnson’s. -It feels like an approach similar to Nolan’s mysterious “Tenet.” Straight “looper”. By the time the movie reaches its conclusion, you may need a pen and paper to map out where and how the timelines will overlap. Alluding to this interlocking interdependence, Joseph and Sidney have identical tattoos that resemble a Venn diagram. Could this also be a clue to unraveling the series of events?
Felker previously edited The Endless, another time-warp tale by indie duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (who also serves as executive producer), which means Felker himself is already on this wavelength. suggesting that he was ready to ride. The film’s assemblages (co-edited by Felker and Rebecca Marquez) and cryptic clues (like a song playing on a boombox or flashback glimpses) repeatedly reveal the identity of the person Joseph and Sidney must eliminate. It succeeds in keeping the audience away from the smell. ‘Things Will Be Different’ is a brilliant attempt at combining the heartfelt and the brain-tickling, even if the balance between lofty concepts and human elements sometimes falters.
