About Time (2013)

February 15, 2023 9:06 PM

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. They can't change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us.

Trailer

NPR Review
In Love Actually, writer-director Richard Curtis balanced multiple tones — including overt sentimentality and more complicated emotionality. In About Time, he likewise finds a convincing mix. The moment-to-moment experience of Tim's (Domnhall Gleeson) time traveling life feels as grounded as, maybe more so, than many recent romantic comedies. Time passes, Tim matures, his relationship stabilizes, and the film turns its focus to the whole of life, to other facets of love, to how the highs and lows of aging affect his father (Bill Nighy), his stalwart mother (Lindsay Duncan), and his carefree sister (Lydia Wilson).

It's marketed as a romantic comedy, but the romantic tension is resolved well before the halfway point.

posted by itesser (8 comments total)

I saw this movie for the first time in 2020 during lockdown. I was in a movie club that watched a new film every night (it kept up for almost 15 months!), and tried to focus on uplifting films. I found it gutwrenchingly beautiful at the time, and have been wanting to rewatch it since.

After finding it on Amazon Prime a month or so ago, I took the opportunity to rewatch it with my partner last night. Still loved it.

Reflecting on it more today, I think uncomfortable section around Mary meeting Tim (their last first meeting, that is) is the price that is paid in order for the last 30 minutes of the film to exist.

There are many bits I like (or even love) throughout the movie (Desmond!), but there's also a lot I cringe at in the first half. Tim's relationship with his father, however, simply guts me. I'm rewatching the last act again as I write this comment, and absolutely crying. A good one to keep in my pocket for when I need the catharsis.

I can admit that this movie is idyllic and nostalgic (now) and even sacharine, but... I just don't care. Bill Nighy is playing the father figure I've always wished for and watching him in this sooths my inner child.
posted by itesser at 9:43 PM on February 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

I saw this last year sometime, had never heard of it and *loved it*. It was Groundhog Day funny at first. Then it became about the relationship between the father and son and there was one scene that was heartbreaking. It earned its ending which doesn’t always happen.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:57 AM on February 16, 2023

The best romantic song

also my brain froze when i realised he went on to play Hux in Star Wars
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 4:16 AM on February 16, 2023

I absolutely loved this movie when I first saw it. So did my husband.

As I reflected on it over the years, the whole "keep pursuing the woman you want till she gives in" bit became a little more cringe-worthy. I'm not 100% certain that the fact that things work out okay in the end helps as much as it should.

But yeah, Bill Nighy. And I still cry over the whole thing, and kinda wish someone loved me like that sometimes.
posted by Archer25 at 6:27 AM on February 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have to say I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
posted by Naberius at 8:23 AM on February 16, 2023

I dont mind this is a watch, but its ability to invent a high concept power which the well off protagonists use only to help themselves find love, and also break its own damn rules is extremely frustrating. I very much enjoyed this article about it

But yeah if you can ignore this, and the lack of agency in the female characters, its a perfectly fine film.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 11:18 AM on February 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I saw the film some years ago and thought it was clever and well acted but I did have an issue with the fact that the main character effectively practices sex several times "on" his girlfriend while she thinks they've only had it once. It left me feeling uncomfortable, even though it's only a film.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 12:56 PM on February 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

All 3 leads do so well in this one. I really appreciate the mythology and how it is explained with the kids, that once they're born you can't go back and change anything or you may end up with a different kid. Not a big deal if they are still in the womb, but once you've bonded with the baby, you don't trade them in.
posted by soelo at 2:47 PM on February 25, 2023