If Terrence Malick made a documentary, All the Time in the World would have been his film: minimalistic, impressionistic, humanistic. Sue Crocker directs and photographs her family of five's nine-month stay in the Yukon Territory outside of Dawson City.
The endearing part of this poetic piece is Crocker's respect for the children's point of view, which reflects on the time and simplicity motifs with a clarity often not the realm of regular adults and usually reserved for poets. Their observations are spot on about how in the dead of winter--50 below--you feel time slowing so that you want to slow up with it or hibernate as we would say.
The fire in the log cabin, the berries made into pies and drinks, the cuddly cats and dog, dad's soon to be cut pony tail, and mom's enduring smile are just part of the rich mosaic called the "simple life." Like the story itself, time goes short for this lyrical recollection of a family's unique bonding.
I'm a city guy who has won a few good camper awards, so the vicissitudes of roughing it are within my right to review. Although I don't wish for nine months in the Yukon, I do in my daily life pare down to the minimum, the way Crocker's family in a more austere way does.
I take away from this exemplary doc a desire to further reduce my material life and spend more simplified time with my family and friends. In that way I know I'll have all the time in the world.
