Timecrimes

Aka: Los cronocrímenes
DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
Starring Karra Elejalde, Nacho Vigalondo, Candela Fernández, Candela Fernández
Release date Out now (region 1); 4 May 2009 (region 2)

Hector (Elejalde) has just moved into a secluded new house with his wife. After spying a mysterious naked woman in the nearby woods, he goes to investigate and is promptly attacked by a bandaged maniac. He flees to a nearby lab containing a time machine…

The renaissance of Spanish fantasy cinema continues with this ingenious and deceptively simple time travel thriller.

When Hector finds himself sent back in time by one hour it sparks off a chain of events that initially seems pretty straightforward and then becomes increasingly convoluted in ways that are both thrilling and darkly comic.

As the story takes in more and more trips in time, writer-director Vigalondo (who also co-stars as the scientist) whips up an ever more frantic pace. The narrative is incredibly tight; there isn't a single unnecessary scene or plot deviation, and all of the action is restricted to four characters and an isolated woodland locale. And while the story would easily lend itself to a stage adaptation, the action is so pacey and well constructed that the film never feels static or stagey. Vigalondo also has a real flair for creating memorable images like the mysterious woman in the woods viewed through a telescope or the bandaged, scissor-welding killer who recalls the Invisible Man.

With so few cast members, this is a film that needed a strong central character, and Karra Elejalde is superb as Hector: someone who begins as a Hitchcockian ordinary man floundering out of his depth before becoming morally comprised.

Timecrimes contains everything you could want in a good time travel lark: ethical dilemmas about meddling with the past, science that seems believable without becoming over-detailed and the ability to make you wrack your brain afterwards trying to figure out if it all adds up or not.

The DVD also contains Vigalondo’s short film ‘7:35 de la Mañana’ – the film that helped him get his feature film off the ground. Like the main feature, it’s based around a simple idea that gradually escalates, and you can see why it acted as such a good calling card. The DVD also boasts an excellent commentary and a ‘making of’ doc. Matt McAllister