Time Lapse – TADFF Review

As part of Toronto After Dark’s “Time Travel Tuesday”, Time Lapse  is the first feature of American writer/director Bradley King. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director, who was still in the air at the start of the film. That’s dedication.

Our McGuffin: A camera that’s a time machine (or is it a time machine that’s a camera?)

Three roommates, who happen to be the superintendent of an apartment complex, have to check out a tenant who is late on his rent. What they find instead is a strange looking machine and a wall of photos. Photos of their living room. And some are missing.

I guess it’s better than watching paint dry (the photos I mean, as the movie definitely is!)

Time Lapse is the tale what happens when three friends are given a snippet of information, in the form of a Polaroid picture of their living room, 24 hours before it happens. It’s not a story of the mechanics of time travel, it’s the story of what happens to a trio of friends when they can leave the day to day tasks and roles behind.

Maybe some doors shouldn’t be opened. (and a picture of our three main characters: Jasper, Callie, and Finn)

One, Jasper played by George Finn, has a clear motivation: money. His solution is simple, leave past them a message by taping the results of the dog races to the window facing the camera. The picture also shows Finn’s (played by Matt O’Leary, Brick) paintings, which allows him to overcome his creative block.

This leaves Callie (The Flash‘s Danielle Panabaker), girlfriend of Finn, who likes being able to buy a new dress and seems to support Jasper’s use of the photos. In fact, she is the one who figures out the logistics of how to proceed.

It has fun moments, like Jasper at the beginning trying to use a crystal ball to help with his bets. But this is not a comedy. Time Lapse quickly falls into film noir territory, with the introduction of Jasper’s bookie, who is not amused by the sudden run of luck of one of his clients. Jasper’s paranoia and pill popping causes his deterioration, while the relationship between Callie and Finn seems to get better, only to draw back as information is revealed.

King was able to answer some questions including one about the set. In the writing process King and Bp Cooper (co-writer and Producer), they thought they’d been clever to limit the scenes to a very few locations. But once they realized that it would involve two apartments across from each other, and that they’d planned a 28 day shoot, normal locations has to be abandoned. “You can pay people if you’re shooting over night for a few days in a row, but not 28,” explained King. “So we began reviewing a list of abandoned complexes.” Not only did they find one, but one scheduled for demolitions so they were able to modify it as needed. “Including putting in the big window, creating a long hallway, and removing the ceiling for the lighting rig.”

He also talked about how the camera was designed, who did the paintings, and audience response in different countries.  This is a film that’s won three “Best Feature” awards from three different festivals (Big Island Film Festival, Fantaspoa, and London Independent Film Festival) this year.

While this is a first feature for director King he pulls together a great cast. They have you wanted to shout at the screen, yet despite them sliding down the slippery slope of grey areas, you still want to see what happens.  A fun indie film with a concept which was executed “within our budget”. Again, horror is often more from within, than forced from without. And sometimes it’s better not to know the future.