Based on the trailers, I was dreading seeing this film, as it looked like a shallow dull romantic movie with a *ahem* ‘clever’ twist in the form of the time traveller. However, I was very pleased to find, within ten minutes of the film starting, that it was clear that I was wrong; it was a complex movie, looking at various problems/blessings that the main character’s condition meant.
The first part of the film obviously introduced the main character (Eric Bana), his condition, and the love interest. This was done very cleverly, as she had known him for many years, but it was the first time he had met her. This is because it was an older version of him that travelled back to her childhood and earlier years. This broken timeline continues throughout the whole film, meaning that it could have easily been an incoherent muddle, but the director has controlled things carefully; sometimes following the traveller’s timeline, so everyone around him changes age suddenly; sometimes following everyone else’s timeline, so the traveller appears to suddenly age/become younger.
The plot was kept on a low level; no one has to save the world in this film; it’s just about a couple trying to live a normal life given the bizarre condition the husband has. The time travelling is played to various effects throughout the story; there are a few scenes of comedy, some extremely touching emotional scenes and some genuine shocks. A fair few plot twists come as a surprise, at times drastically changing the tone of the movie, but never coming across as contrived. While there is little to no action, the characters are certainly interesting enough to keep you in this movie, the cast played their parts perfectly; most importantly and everyone acts realistically which really adds to things.
