From the DVD Shelf: Timecrimes (or Los cronocrímenes)

A breath of fresh air for the Time-travel genre, this low budget Sci-fi thriller is certainly mind-bending, but in an extremely good way.

At first glance this film seems to have everything going against it. First of all it has a silly name, a poor translation of its original Spanish title, Los cronocrímenes? (I don’t know, I don’t speak Spanish!). Secondly it’s directed by someone you most likely haven’t ever heard of, Nacho Vigalondo, who sounds more like a bad Mexican super-hero than a great director (no offence Nacho!). While finally, at first glance it looks like a poor, low-budget, slasher-flick, with a main antagonist that resembles a trench coat wearing, scissor wielding, Mummy (If you see the DVD cover you’ll know what I’m talking about). Hence, though I had even been recommended this film by other websites and purchased it, it sat sadly on my shelf for months before I finally got round to watching it. Plainly though, this film is demonstrates clearly why you should never judge a book (or in this case DVD) by its cover, for what we have here is something both imaginative, exciting and extremely thought provoking.

Our story picks up with Hector, played excellently by Karra Elejalde, a middle-aged middle class man who seemingly has just moved into a new house with his wife (or at least is having his house redecorated, this part is not related), played by Candela Fernández. After bringing back some shopping, and spewing its contents along the driveway, Hector settles down in the garden to rest, only to notice a strange woman in the woods. He investigates, and of course trouble ensues.

The film spends little time on setting up the characters, but then there is little need to. The relationship between Hector and his wife Clara is spelled out simply within these first few minutes, and there is little need for a deep analysis of their lives. They are just a simple couple carrying out their lives, which really is a breath of fresh air; happily there is no attempt to inject any pointless melodrama here, nor unneeded character development or pointless build-up. The film quickly gets into the meat of the story and that is certainly for the best.

So after this short build up, we see our Hector searching the woods looking for the strange woman, maybe to help her, or maybe because he happened to see that she was getting naked. On discovering her unconscious naked body, he is quickly attacked by our friend, the bandage wearing, scissor-wielding Mummy. From this point there is little to distinguish this from any other low budget horror film from the last few years. However, after further escapades in the woods by Hector, and the discovery of a strange compound upon a hill, things thankfully quickly diverge from this and on meeting El Joven, played by non other than Nacho Vigalondo himself, time-travel mischief begins, seeing our hero sent back to the previous day.

From this point on we see our so called Hector-2, get into a number of escapades with himself and others (as well as that mysterious bandaged faced man!), which is reminiscent of the multiple Marty McFly’s from Back to the Future II, but in a much more fully formed and overly more mind-bending way. Little can be said about this part of the film without ruining it’s interesting and well thought out time-travel capers, but the paradoxes are plain to see, and joyfully mangle your brain when thought about for any length of time. Furthermore, unlike most time-travel themed films which seem to fall apart upon further inspection or are so overly complicated that they lose much of their intrigue and fun, Timecrime’s premise certainly holds true, and this is certainly aided by the limited focus upon Hector and the limited supporting cast; this film certainly demonstrates is that you can do a lot, even produce a high concept Sci-Fi thriller, with limited cast and almost no budget.

Of course, without a strong main character, this would never had been a success, but luckily Karra Elajalde plays Hector well, even with the limited back-story and the issues of subtitles. Most of the film we see him wandering around, wide eyed and confused. Though he never really loses this, in latter parts our hero shifts into a more determined and ultimately beat up figure (in more ways than one), albeit one who is willing to do stranger and more unacceptable stuff that the middle-aged, simple Hector from the first half of the film would have never done. The other characters are also good, for their roles, though they are more bit parts than anything else, with Hector taking centre stage, on many different levels. In the end this film was never about the chacters, but more about the crazy mind bending plot.

The film continues at a steady pace and although it is rather brief, clocking in at only 88 minutes, this certainly does not hurt it, and the plot is fulfilled successfully within this period with little filler.

Despite everything that it has against it then, this film is definitely one to be watched, if you are fan of the time-travel genre, of foreign films, or of good films in general, it will not disappoint. For its low budget and limited cast, and the fact that it is the directorial début for our friend Nacho Vigalondo, it is a marvel, and is one to see, especially before it is ruined by the impending Hollywood remake!