Time Crimes - Arguably my favourite foreign language film!

You’ll have to excuse the overall ‘gushing’ nature of this review.  In short, I LOVE ‘Time Crimes’ (although I must admit that the title – once translated to English – does sound a little naff!).  So, if you’re not in the mood for a Spanish film with subtitles then you probably won’t like the film or my take on it either!

Not only does the (English) title not do the film’s content justice, but it’s one of those films where you really have to pay attention to every little detail because something that doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy now may have greater significance later on.  I would say what ‘Time Crimes’ is about, but I don’t want to spoil anything, as you’ll only get the one chance to watch it without knowing where it’s going.  Obviously, time travel plays a major factor and expect a crime or two thrown in there.  But the film’s strength lies with its ‘realism’ (if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to accept that we can leap about through time without the aid of a DeLorean).  The ‘hero’ Hector (and you’ll notice the quote marks I used to describe him thus) is a slightly overweight middle-aged man who spends his time with a pair of binoculars staring into bushes while his wife works at getting their new country home up and running – hardly your average Hollywood leading man!  Then his quiet little life gets thrown into turmoil when he spots an attractive woman in the bushes, seemingly taking her clothes off for no good reason.  This is a warning to us all not to investigate such a phenomenon.  However, if he didn’t, there wouldn’t be such a great story to follow.  Like I said, I won’t spoil anything, but expect a secret facility, a secret machine and a lot of confusion involving hurtling through time and space.

It’s definitely not your average Hollywood flick.  From the portly hero to the decisions he makes – everything flies in the face of what we might expect from the ‘classic Hollywood narrative.’ As much as I may love this film, I’ve only watched it the three times since its release in 2006.  This is because it’s a story that you really need to watch closely in case you miss something.  There are plenty of films out there where you can pop out to make a cup of tea or idly play with your phone, then come back to the plot and find you haven’t missed anything.  This isn’t one.  Just expect one hell of a mind-bending experience with plenty of temporal twists and turns.  Watch it quick as I’m constantly amazed that it hasn’t been remade with someone like Matt Damon in the lead!

10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this