Jonas Ferry’s blog

The Science of Sleep (original title: Science des rêves, La) (Michel Gondry, 2006). Stéphane, who has a hard time separating reality from fiction, gets a new job and tries to find a girlfriend. Like Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this is a film that plays with your mind as you share the main character’s story. A nice weird little film with Gael García Bernal from Amores Perros and Charlotte Gainsbourg from Lemming. [8/10]

Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995). A man sent back in time to investigate the destruction of mankind becomes part of destroying it. I’ve watched this wonderful film before, and really enjoyed re-watching it. It’s got time travel, Bruce Willis/Brad Pitt and is based on La Jetée. [10/10]

“WE DID IT” graffiti in Twelve Monkeys (1995).

Monster House (Gil Kenan, 2006). With a haunted house on their street, a couple of kids decide to uncover its secrets. A well-produced animated film; unfortunately, but not surprisingly, stronger in its special effects than in the story. [7/10]

Angry old man in Monster House (2006).

Saw II (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005). A psychotic killer makes people perform tests that kill them if they fail. The first Saw was fresh and with twist that worked, but this film feels more forced. [6/10]

Saw III (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006). More tests, this time by the psychotic killer’s apprentice. While the first film was OK, and the second passable, the third film is really, really bad. If you didn’t already know the bad news, you’d hope this would be the last installment of the series. [3/10]

Something about time travel has always fascinated me. I’ve read books, both fact and fiction, articles, played roleplaying games and even written a small game about it in Swedish called Tempora.

I enjoy the mental excercise of spotting paradoxes, even if paradoxes increase my enjoyment rather than detract from it. I suppose there’s some wishful thinking about changing the past, and a certain sense of exploration. Our three dimensions are mapped out, at least around Earth. Exploration of parallel dimensions can be fun, but are usually too removed from our reality too really have an impact on normal life. You always experience time, so it’s fun to think about what would happen if you could alter it.

There are a lot of films about people manipulating time. I’m going to list my five favorites. I’ll have to exclude a lot of great films. Anyway, the list:

1. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001). Donnie is a disturbed young man who meets a giant bunny that announces the end of the world. The film doesn’t say if Donnie has schizophrenic hallucinations, if the whole film is a near-death experience of if he’s actually in a timestream broken off from the normal. Watch the director’s cut, as it explains a lot more. One thing is that you get to see pages from Grandma Death’s book The Philosophy of Time Travel.
2. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993). This Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell comedy is an excellent take on time loops. A news anchor gets stuck reliving the same day over and over. At first he’s excited, later annoyed and finally tries to break the loop. For romantic comedies, this is about as good as they get.
3. Primer (Shane Carruth, 2004). A down-to-earth take on time travel, if that’s possible, where two friends build a time machine almost by mistake. When they carefully try it out things spiral out of control. The viewer follows one time stream, which is visited by multiple versions of the time travellers, so you could spend some time trying to map exactly what happens when, and why. People have, of course.
4. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984). A killer robot is sent back to stop the birth of a future resistance leader by killing his mother. A neat cause-and-effect loop is created when the man sent back to protect the resistance leader’s mother becomes his father.
5. Returner (original title: Ritana) (Takashi Yamazaki, 2002). A woman comes to the present from the future to stop the start of a devastating war between humans and aliens. She brings a neat time-manipulating toy that can slow down time, creating stunning matrixesque action scenes. The most sci-fi of the films on my list.

Do you have a favorite time travel film I didn’t include?

Frequency (Gregory Hoblit, 2000). A man finds his dad’s old radio, and manages to contact his father from 30 years before. Nice time-travel movie with fun paradoxes and time manipulation. [8/10]

St. John’s Wort (original title: Otogiriso) (Ten Shimoyama, 2001). A girl inherits an old house and together with some friends decide to base a computer game on it. The parts that remind you of how video games work are interesting, but as a whole the movie’s crap. [3/10]

Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960). A man tries to capture fear on film by filming women as he murders them. Psychological thriller that manages to be creepy. [8/10]

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005). Anakin Skywalker runs around and tries to do good, but turns into Darth Vader. I really like the first three films, but the next three were really disappointing. This one is at least better than the first and second, and actually manages to hold my interest. [5/10]

Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003). A woman falls into coma just as the Berlin wall falls, and when she wakes up her son tries to conceal the truth to avoid a shock. Fun movie, with good music. [8/10]

Flicka och hyacinter (English title: Girl with Hyacinths) (Hasse Ekman, 1950). When a young woman commits suicide and testaments all her belongings to the neighbors, one of them swears to find out why she did it. A nice mystery story, with interesting characters from different walks of life that the woman associated with before death. [8/10]

The Blob (Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., 1958). When a meteor lands in a small town, a formless blob of goo appears and attacks people. This is a classic sci-fi that is still fun to watch. I was impressed by the special effects, and the theme music. [7/10]

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (Craig R. Baxley, 2003). The prequel of Rose Red that tells the story of the first owner of the haunted house. Not a specially good movie by any means, and not something to spend time or money on. [5/10]

2046 (Kar Wai Wong, 2004). An author writes about a time or place called 2046, which is of great significance to him. Beautifully filmed, with portraits of less-than-perfect people. [7/10]

Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1997). A cop is sent to investigate a murder, but is haunted by nightmares of bad things he has done. This is the original version, later remade in America, with the fantastic Stellan Skarsgård in the main role. His character is, if possible, even less good than his American alter-ego which makes the line between law enforcer and criminal even more blurred. [8/10]