Review of About Time (2013) by Mitman83 — 08 Dec 2013

In regards to the film “About Time”...

In this age of out-of-this-world ridiculous visual effects, computer graphics, action stunts and massive Hollywood blockbuster productions worth hundreds of millions of dollars, we get this subtle little film “About Time”, which offers us the complete opposite of what we, as an audience, have come to expect from Hollywood to entertain us. The film is exquisitely scripted, backed by tremendous performances by the actors, especially by Bill Nighy, and most of all, the film gives us a dose of deep, meaningful emotional roller coaster.

At the beginning, we find that the central character’s family has a deep secret: the men of that family are able to travel back in time. This makes one skeptical of the entire movie: haven’t we already had a story like this before? From this point on, it seems as though the plot and the dialogue of the rest of the film are like a subtle closing argument as to why that time travel aspect is not really an important aspect of the film, although it does affect the story.

Another misconception of this film is that while it seems like a story of a man and a woman falling in love, it really is about the relationship between a father and a son. Their storyline pretty much outclasses and overshadows every other storyline of the film. From that prior skepticism when we first hear about the time travelling ability, as the story unfolds and the plot thickens, the audience becomes emotionally manhandled. Why? Because of love.

We see the chase for love, the choices that are made for and because of love, the consequences of love, and finally, the hardest part for us humans when we deal with love: knowing when to let go and have the courage to move on after losing love. That skepticism that I mentioned about at the beginning of the film? It dramatically changes into support, with the audience longing for the son to use his abilities more and more. You can sense, hear and feel the emotional wreckage going on in the theater, not because of the romance between a husband and wife, but because, for most of us, we don’t have that loving relationship depicted here between father and son.

This movie couldn’t have come to Korea at a better time. With Christmas almost here, it’s almost as though this film has come to remind us that with the time we have, maybe we need to focus on what is really important to us. Even in a materialistic society like Korea, maybe this movie can remind us and help us move in the right direction little by little.