Timecrimes – Review

Constrained by a small budget, shot with a small cast, and limited to just a few locations, one may think that Timecrimes was nothing special, and they’d be wrong. The main fun of the movie is experiencing its story, without knowing what is about to happen, so this will be a very limited review.

Héctor (Elejalde) lives in a nice country home with his wife Clara (Fernández). He brings home the groceries, including a new IKEA-type coffee table for his wife, and then plops himself down in the back yard to enjoy the green fields and tall trees. While his wife combats the table dimensions, Héctor starts noticing some odd happenings in the forest as he gazes through his binoculars. A strange girl (Goenaga)? Another strange figure? After his wife takes off, he decides maybe he should check things out, and heads into the forest…

The script is well constructed and shows a nice attention to detail, where its four-person cast could still find plenty to do and enhance the overall intrigue. The basic plot is a thrilling mystery of what is really going on, and who is really doing what. It’s relatively simple overall, but the story gives so much to think about and consider, while watching the happenings unfold. While the main character Héctor may not be winning any intelligence awards, there is no denying that the story and execution are both pretty damn cool and very well done.

There is a slight bit of a horror/thriller-type element in the story, but overall, it is not the focus and the Sci-Fi nature of the story is fully in control. There is no warning for viewers going in about excessive violence, it’s fairly light