TIMECRIMES

Karbo Vantas Entertainment
92 min., dir. by Nacho Vigalondo, with Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, and Bárbara Goenaga

Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes) is a Spanish science fiction film which operates on an unthinkably low budget, relying instead on a tight script rather than flashy effects. Like all good sci-fi, Timecrimes puts its main character in tough ethical situations. Hector (played by Karra Elejalde) will go to any length in order to correct the glitches he creates in his own time line, thus making his crimes almost justifiable in the context of correcting various events in his recent past. Thanks to writer/director Nacho Viglondo, Timecrimes manages to tie up the loose plot ends which often trouble the time travel sub-genre.

Much like Dorian Gray, evidence of Hector’s crimes are “written” on his face as he moves through time, trying to correct the damage of his previous chronological digressions. Technology is the principal accomplice to and scourge of his criminal endeavors. However, the greatest threat to the time-traveler and all those around him comes from other versions of himself.

Although Timecrimes was made in 2007, it has recently been screened in art houses around the country. Like many successful and provocative foreign films, Timecrimes is destined for an American remake. Fortunately, the director who is slated for this endeavor is none other than the master of expressionist cinema, David Cronenberg.
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