Things Will Be Different

Wow. What a strong directorial debut! I am really impressed with Michael Felker's efforts here and am excited to see where he goes as a filmmaker. He has an obvious love for science fiction, and after watching this I have a sneaking suspicion he will go on to become a rising and strong voice in genre filmmaking.

The script and concept are really strong here, but for whatever reason this honestly just didn't connect with me as much as I hoped it would. I feel similarly about many of the low-budget efforts of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, both of whom serve as Executive Producers here (fantastic voices in genre filmmaking as well). If, however, you ARE a fan of any Benson and Moorhead films, I'm confident you'll feel right at home here; even if THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT doesn't end up fully connecting with you like it didn't for me.

You'll find some interesting ideas here for sure though. The hook is a strong one and there are a couple fun additions thanks to some twists and turns throughout the story. The pacing can a bit slow though and the sibling dynamic pitched as the heart of tale ultimately fell flat for me. I hate saying that, as I know it came from a personal place from the filmmaker, but I do have to admit it left me feeling cold once the credits rolled. Will that be the case for everyone though? Absolutely not. As with all art, reactions to this will vary, but it's still a film I'd ultimately recommend (unless you've seen TIMECRIMES which this film may or may not borrow too heavily from).

My issues aside, I do stand by this being a strong piece of science fiction (with a dash of horror) and I'd encourage those with interest to check it out and decide for themselves.

RANDOM PRAISE +

• S/O to Carissa Dorson for some excellent cinematography. I'm not sure what the budget was for this but she really made the best of what she had.

RANDOM CRITIQUE -

• This may be a Midwest thing, so forgive my cultural ignorance, but both of our leads casually walk around a parking lot and diner with their rifles, which-if you live in a city like me, may be a VERY jarring visual and reality to accept.

TAKEAWAY ?

• Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

The movie's premise was quite good. The siblings hide in a temporal B&B to avoid the law. However, they soon discover that leaving is not as easy as they thought. They can communicate with the people responsible for time travel using a tape recorder locked in a safe. They are tasked with confronting an adversary who appears later in the story.

The execution, however, leaves much to be desired. I agree with other reviewers: the cinematography is excellent, the sound and music are above average, and the acting ranges from superb (the brother) to good but somewhat forced (the sister). The main drawback of the movie is its screenplay. While it has potential, there are super boring parts interspersed with a few sudden twists. Moreover, many elements are either left unexplained or explained in a lacklustre manner.

Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the movie. It would have benefitted from being 30 minutes shorter, featuring more realistic sibling dialogues, and providing better explanations for a few key elements, for example, delving deeper into the adversary's identity. Still, it was more than satisfactory for a low-budget flick.

P. S.

A few other movies gave me similar vibes, most notably Timecrimes (2007), The Field (2019), and The Endless (2017).

Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) meet up at a diner. They are both armed and carrying a bag of money. They go to a pre-selected farm house. There is a specific procedure of changing the clocks, opening a door, and dialing a phone in the dark. They arrive back to the house which is fully stocked. Their plan is to stay there for two weeks and wait out the cops.

This is a low-budget high-concept sci-fi crime drama. I like the general premise and the curious door procedure to start the story. The problem is that it doesn't entice the audience to invest in these two characters. These are not famous faces and they don't have any exposition. Once things start going wrong, the rules are not clear. Nothing is that clear in this movie. The reveal is the reveal. I expected something like it. It's fine. The overall execution is a bit lacking.

Michael Felker was the editor for a number of Benson & Moorhead films. They're something truly special if you haven't seen them. Unfortunately Benson & Moorhead have been wasting their talents on comic book slop the past few years, and indefinitely into the future. With A24 being (almost) the only company doing anything creative in cinema, it's pretty obvious Felker wanted to make a B&M film. Good on him!

The results are... not great. Most aspect of this movie are done very well, but the screenplay is weak and goes to shambles about 2/3 of the way through. It's not even that it becomes contrived or illogical, actions and situations defy any explanation. Imagine someone getting shot at, so they go inside and start making breakfast. This is an exaggeration and doesn't happen, but it's that kind of disconnect that becomes prevalent. Events are barely held together. People seemingly teleport from place to place. Some of it is explainable in retrospect, but a lot of it isn't. Or the explanation is insufficient and doesn't answer all the questions. Where B&M movies have an air of mystique, this is just messy.

The entire movie kind of feels like the intro to a larger story. Like we're looking at a small part of something REALLY interesting, but we'll never see the whole. Imagine if The Endless was remade to just be the guy at the barn. Just imagine how small and limited the movie would feel, knowing the bigger picture. That's what this feels like.

A botched getaway and a time travel is not one of the usual mixes. Also the mood and set-up of the time travelling is unqiue. The deeper look at the broken family bonds, desperation and imprisonment is excellent. An imaginative story that breaks the usual trends. Great performances. Excellent audio effects and visual effects. It's puzzling but does it's duty in keeping the audience's eyes peeled.