Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

Kato (Kazunari Tosa) lives above the cafe he owns, a small space in a small life. One evening, he returns home from work to find that his image is on his computer and, even more, he's talking to him! It turns out that Kato-in-the-computer is Kato two minutes into the future, and that the television monitor in the cafe shows the same scene two minutes in the past. Before too long, Kato and several friends are literally playing with time, trying to figure out how to profit from this bizarre form of clairvoyance - before things begin to spin out of control....

This short (70 minutes) film is quite as goofy as the premise suggests, with a very loopy heart to it. Filmed on a smart phone by a first-time group of players and crew, using quite minimal sets, I was laughing within about five minutes of the opening, always a good sign. This year, Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival is mostly online again due to the pandemic, which is a shame - this is exactly the kind of film that our festival-goers embraces with open arms. Having to watch it on a smaller screen at home isn't quite the same, but I'm very pleased to have been able to see it at all - and FantAsia 2021 is off to a good start!

Director did an excellent job filming how time travel would look like if we can peel into the future 2min intervals. Sequence started off very simple, and gradually added layers and increased complexity, filming everything very smartly. Worth your time if you're interesting in sci-fi and time travel.

Japanese low budget cinema at its best! Normally, low budget American films are absolute trash with few exceptions, but Japanese ones are invariably charming and imaginative and this one's no exception. It's a quirky time travel comedy set in a cafe, where an unusual link to the future spells disaster. Extremely lovable characters, a natural humour throughout and an anything-goes feel make this a thoroughly entertaining little movie.

Endearing, fast-paced, and very short Japanese movie about a man who discovers a TV in his cafe that shows images from two minutes in the future. How or why? Doesn't matter. Just go with it.

Some of his friends soon discover it and begin playing around with it, devising ways to look further into the future by pointing the screen that shows the future and the screen that shows that past at each other. Confusing but very fun and low-key time travel shenanigans ensue.

It's made to look like one shot but you can usually tell when they cut. Still, most shots appear to last at least three minutes, and some as long as five or more, so there still would have been an admirable amount of brainpower and coordination required to pull off some of these sequences, especially because multiple screens are involved.

It's the kind of movie that you realise you just need to go with the flow with, and once you do, it becomes a lot of fun. The low budget and restricted setting (it takes place in a cafe and a couple of small apartments on the floors above) don't impact how enjoyable and engaging it is for its short but sweet runtime.

It's hard to complain too much about some of the rough technical aspects (and to be fair, I didn't even realise they shot it on a phone while I was watching), and the acting is good for this kind of movie, but nothing amazing. Still, it's more than worth watching for the premise and creativity found within, and for being a unique and even inspirationally low budget movie with a very high concept.

Easy to recommend, and sure, I know the year is very young, but it's my favourite film I've watched in 2022 so far.

'Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020)' is an incredibly impressive low-budget science-fiction film about a group of friends who discover that a television and a computer monitor are linked via some sort of temporal anomaly. The monitor displays what the TV will see in two minutes, while the TV displays what the monitor has already seen two minutes ago. The film is, in essence, an examination of the age-old question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? The characters see what they're going to do, yet arguably only do it because they know they must. To them, the future has already happened; they seem to exist on a predestined timeline. The feature often follows its characters as they travel between the TV and the monitor, too. Because of this, the future becomes the past which becomes the present which becomes the past again. As you can see, the central concept is an extremely clever and heady one, and it gets even more complex as the piece progresses (in ways which I won't spoil here). Thankfully, the flick never trips over itself and also remains relatively easy to parse for its entire duration. It's intelligent, but not pretentious. It's all in good fun, too, and only carries the slightest hint of thematic potency. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that it plays out in what appears to be a single seamless take. Judging by the behind-the-scenes footage that plays during the credits (which also reveals that large portions of the picture were shot using a mobile phone), it appears the picture makes use of hidden cuts to achieve this. Nevertheless, it's still really spectacular and certainly must've taken a lot of planning to pull off. The piece is pretty much a choreographed dance in which the players have to interact with pre-recorded versions of themselves, recreating and reacting to the footage that plays out on the two screens that comprise the central temporal link. It's as enjoyable as it is admirable. The flick moves at a solid pace and doesn't feel as though it either outstays its welcome or artificially pads its length. It's entertaining pretty much from the first frame to the last. Despite all of its genuine brilliance, though, the thing is only ever so engaging or enjoyable. That's not to imply that it isn't engaging or enjoyable at all, rather that it only ever reaches a certain level of engagement or enjoyment. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't quite push past the promise of its solid opening movement or go above and beyond when it comes to how compelling it is. It's an odd complaint, I'll admit, and I'm not even sure if I'm conveying it correctly. Basically, I'm now trying to justify my entirely subjective and arguably redundant review score. The movie is technically triumphant, narratively complex and generally entertaining, but it only moves me to the point I feel as though I can rate it 7/10.