May 1, 2009 -- This minimalist time travel story seems to have more characters than it really does at first glance. It also seems a lot simpler at first than it really is. It quickly develops headache-inducing complexities. Its “Groundhog Day” repetition and story which spirals in upon itself comes out looking more like a stage play than a movie. Time travel is used to disrupt the normal notion of cause and effect. In this story causes sometimes come about after their effects, rather than before them. Doc Brown was right. Destroy the time machine. It just leads to trouble.

Hector (played by Karra Elejalde) sees a naked woman (Barbara Goenaga) in the distance and goes to investigate. There he is stabbed by an unknown man wearing a mask made of bandages. He runs away to a nearby residence where another man (Nacho Vigalondo, who also writes and directs this film) lets him hide from his pursuer inside a strange looking contraption. When he emerges from the machine, he discovers the machine has sent him back in time one hour. He later learns that the time machine is experimental and had never been used on human beings before. Why it was used on Hector in the first place is never explained very well.

Hector hasn't escaped the bandaged man, however, instead, he has become enmeshed in a tragic series of events involving death, kidnapping and serious injuries. There is no escape. He is both antagonist and victim. The film exemplifies the popular artistic notion of inescapable tragic destiny, as opposed to more optimistic views of time travel, like “Groundhog Day,” “Back to the Future” and “Grand Tour: Disaster in Time.” Timecrimes is a pretty twisted time travel story, but as far as twisted time travel causal loop stories go, it has a long way to go before it equals Robert A. Heinlein's story, “All You Zombies.”

The notion of artistic inescapable tragic destiny can be summed up from a quote from veteran actor Wallace Shawn (“My Dinner With Andre”) who said, “Many people have said, 'You seem like a harmless, cheerful little fellow, but you're saying these bitter things.' What am I bitter about? The way the world works is unjust. It's not just a little bit wrong. It's very, very wrong. I get up and I'm angry every day.” It's a valid viewpoint, but no more valid than viewpoints of other people who happen to have a sunny, upbeat outlook on life. For most artists, including actors, writers and directors, this anger seems to be the wellspring of their inspiration and they just can't help but inflict it upon audiences everywhere. They hate a traditional Hollywood happy ending. Timecrimes has a very twisted ending. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2009 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at .