Topic: Tom's Time-Travel Movie Reviews

[Achim]

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo kakeru shôjo)
"TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE"
Student girl Konno Makoto has a very bad day. Everything goes wrong and to top it all off in the afternoon she dies in a lethal accident… only she doesn't.

In fact, she finds herself transported a few seconds back in time and manages to avert her deadly fate. As Konno slowly discovers, she has acquired the power to jump back in time and change things at will!
Soon, she starts the whole day over, but this time without errors, only to discover that sometimes her winnings are someone else's losses. Before she knows it she's busy cleaning mess after mess. And when things go from bad to terrible she suddenly finds out there is a limit to her time-jumping, possibly leading several loved ones straight into great danger.

My thoughts:
What can I say about this movie? I simply love it! It became my favorite movie of last year. Even though I saw it 3 times during the last 6 months I had to include it in this marathon. I like it how in the beginnings the time jumps are simply played for fun but it gets more serious as the movie goes on. Sadly there is no RC1 release yet, but it is said to be coming this year. I recommend to watch out for it! Also there is a Korean 3-disc release with English subtitles available (the German release has only German and Polish subtitles).

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo)

So, I finally had the chance to see this highly praised film (at least by Tom )... First off: :

It was a great mixture (as far as the time-traveling aspect goes) between Butterfly Effect and Groundhog Day. Butterfly Effect as far as the intent of the jumps and their effects go, Groundhog Day for similarities in the the time travel execution; she often travels several times to the past to make small alterations, just like Bill Murray needed to repeat the same day over and over. (At least that's how I felt about that.)

The story is nicely executed and most of the twists and turns were not easily predictable hence had me stunned repeatedly. Also the ending was way different from what I expected, whcih I mean in a very good way; all things I could have expected would have been clichéd. The characters are very likable, as they are introduced properly and given some background to them.

I have no real experience with anime, so this may sound awkward to others: The animation is a mixed bag. Basically held simple it still manages to convey the character's feelings and gtransfer the emoptions to the viewer. Several times I was taken out of the film though, when the animation turned what I call "Heidi"-style (at least the Germans may understand what I mean); Super big mouth while laughing and SUPER big eyes; I can handle big eyes, but SUPER big looks weird. All in all it was well animated though, with sufficient detail in the right spots.

[Najemikon]

I used to watch a lot of Anime and Manga films. I remember reading that the Japanese consider the eyes the "window to the soul". Therefore good characters have eyes as big as possible (even if it looks ridiculous) while villains have the opposite.

I like the sound of that though. I might look it up, although I still have Grave of the Fireflies to watch will test if I still like the Anime style.

[Tom]

So, I finally had the chance to see this highly praised film (at least by Tom )... First off: :

I am really glad you liked it
I had feared that I hyped it too much.

I have no real experience with anime, so this may sound awkward to others: The animation is a mixed bag. Basically held simple it still manages to convey the character's feelings and gtransfer the emoptions to the viewer. Several times I was taken out of the film though, when the animation turned what I call "Heidi"-style (at least the Germans may understand what I mean); Super big mouth while laughing and SUPER big eyes; I can handle big eyes, but SUPER big looks weird. All in all it was well animated though, with sufficient detail in the right spots.

That is also something which disturbed me in the beginning when I started watching anime. These effects are called Face Faults. But now I am accustomed to them and even like them.

[Achim]

I learned about the "big eyes" and their meaning a while back already; and having watched a lot of Japan-made children's cartoons (Heidi, Sinbad, Wickie; the last one is some viking kid, don't know his English name) as a kid I was already accustomed to it.

What I find funny is, that to us westerners the big eyes look ridiculously unnatural, yet due to the culture thing the Japanese don't like our cartoons as everybody looks like a villain

I guess as a kid we don't care, we look at the story. Then as teenagers and young adults we feel it looks unnatural and dis it. Then as we get older and more experienced, we start looking at the story again...

[DJ Doena]

Funny, same face faults I can accept without problem, I have difficulties with others. For example the Facefault is usual in the Dragon Ball series (as described in the Wikipedia article). I found it funny. But they only used only once or twice the spiraled eyes and I found it unfitting. In Pokémon (although I never really watched it) they seem to use that regularily.

But I also have to admit, that I never got into any other Manga story except for Dragon Ball. I tried "Rurouni Kenshin", "3x3 Eyes" and "Ranma 1/2" all of which I have several volumes each.

[Tom]

What I also loved about the movie are the two songs by Hanako Oku. I even bought her CD "Time Note" because of it

I especially like the song Kawanarai Mono which is used in the movie's climax. Here the full version of the song to stills from the movie (IMO not spoilerish)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BjpX6QF_IEs

[Tom]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Déjà Vu
Year: 2006
Director: Tony Scott
Rating: PG-13
Length: 126 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Commentary, English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Denzel Washington
Paula Patton
Val Kilmer
Jim Caviezel
Adam Goldberg

Plot:
Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington (Best Actor, 'Training Day', 2001) joins forces with blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer and mega-hit director Tony Scott for 'Déjà Vu' - the powerful, fast-paced action-thriller with a spectacular mind-bending twist. Called in to recover evidence in the aftermath of a horrific explosion on a New Orleans ferry, Federal agent Doug Carlin (Washington) gets pulled away from the scene and taken to a top-secret government lab that uses a time-shifting surveillance device to help prevent crime. But can it help Carlin change the past? Hold on to your seat for an explosive and intriguing thrill ride you'll want to experience again and again.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

I do not really know what to think of this movie. Usually I am quite willing to accept quite a lot suspension of disbelieve when dealing with time-travel stories. But with this movie I cannot be this lenient (probably because it takes itself too seriously). None of this movie's time-travel devices could work. I expect a time-travel movie to set a certain set of rules regarding its time-traveling and then follow them. But I do not have the feeling that in this movie this has been done. They set up the possibility, that changing the past will lead to different future (different to the existing). Spoilers follow: The major flaw in my opinion is, that while traveling back in time and preventing the disaster, he again leaves behind all those hints for his future self to find. But by changing the time, the future will not happen and this is not necessary anymore. A whole new timeline has already started at the point he traveled back in time. 
This whole leaving yourself hints behind cannot work in the frame of this story. I feel they mixing up these two timelines too much.

As I said, usually I am not that bothered about time-travel paradoxes (I even like stories which are using the cause-and-effect reversal argument). But here they are screwing it up too much.

Rating:

[Achim]

Spoilers follow: The major flaw in my opinion is, that while traveling back in time and preventing the disaster, he again leaves behind all those hints for his future self to find. But by changing the time, the future will not happen and this is not necessary anymore. A whole new timeline has already started at the point he traveled back in time. 
This whole leaving yourself hints behind cannot work in the frame of this story. I feel they mixing up these two timelines too much.

The timeline thing you mention also bothered me a lot when I saw it in the cinema. Not even quite comprehending it I started to read on the net (mainly IMDb)and found an explanation that I found satisfactory of rmyself:

(click to show/hide)

He has not only travelled once back in time, but twice. The timeline of the movie is actually his first trip already, meaning when he does the time travel at the end he is actually tavelling the second time (doesn't he reply to the sentence that he is the first human to do that with soimething like "maybe I already did"?). It may still not quite satisfy your problems with the film, but maybe it will at least answer some of the questions... I may not be explaining it well, so you might want to head to IMDb to read the originals; if you care to give the film that chance.

[DJ Doena]

I was a bit disappointed with the inner time travel logic, too.

On the one hand they made it look like a time-loop: He has seen things in the future (like the magnets on the fringe) that he will do in the past (but later from his time POV).

On the other hand he does actually change the past when he sends that note.

It doesn't quite add up.

[Tom]

The timeline of the movie is actually his first trip already, meaning when he does the time travel at the end he is actually tavelling the second time (doesn't he reply to the sentence that he is the first human to do that with soimething like "maybe I already did"?). [/spoiler]

(click to show/hide)

I caught that comment of him and this made me believe, this is a time-loop story. This is why there are hints for him. which he has left in a previous time-jump. Also the note he sent to himself I felt: Yes this makes sense. This is why his partner was at the site of the disaster. He already has done this sending of the note previously (one of those effect before cause scenarios you'll often find. Some like them, some don't. I do as a matter of fact).

And this is the big problem for me. He is in a time-loop. Keeping that in mind, the second half of the movie simply does not make sense.

The film must simply follow its own rules:
Either you can travel back in time and change things and thus starting another timeline or it is a time-loop.

Here in this film there is essentially a bad mixture of both. He sees clues in the past he left himself. Travels back, change things and leaves the same clues again, which does not make sense. He has changed things and those clues do not help his future self in this new timeline (also he himself is now already aware of these things and will not do the investigation (also because the disaster has now not happened). Why the clues? Also where is his other self, who has already gone back and left those hints the first time around?

The movie is IMO not thought through correctly. It was written by someone, who thought time-travel movies are popular and therefore money-makers. But he simply hasn't grasped the subtleties which make time-travel stories good and consistent within themselves.

Another movie, where this kind of time-traveling is better executed, is Retroactive (one of my previous reviews).

[DJ Doena]

@Tom: exactly.

In the Terminator series there is a similar problem.

Terminator 1 was a time-loop. The picture Sarah made at the end of the movie was the very same Reese brought with him from the future. Reese has always been Connor's father and will always be. Perfect loop.

Then they made part 2. And suddenly the future is changeable. But because they've made that change between two movies it didn't bother me that much.

A few years back I drew a (german) chart about this (Imageshack still has the pictures):

Part 1:




Part 2&3:

(Zeitsprung = time travel)


The problem with this principle of time travel is that it would't work as it was depicted in T2, T3. Assuming it would work at all, one person or one ship could make a jump back and change something (black becomes blue in the second picture). What wouldn't be possible is that another person would make the same time travel "5 minutes later". The moment the first person arrives in the past the black time line goes blue. There is no black time line anymore from which a second person could jump back in time.
I can't remember if the T-800 or the T-1000 jumped first. If it was Arnie, he would have destroyed Skynet and the T-1000 would have never been built in the first place. If the T-1000 jumped first he would have killed Connor and there would be never be a resistance who would send the T-800.

[Tom]

(click to show/hide)

This is probably why I liked the resolution in T3 at the end (most lovers of T2 didn't like T3 because of it): Judgement day cannot be overted, it was only postponed in T2. Now the time-loop in T1 works again. This made the three movies (almost) full circle for me. This is why I tread a fourth installment.

[Achim]

Tom, I thinnk I (almost) understand what your problem with Deja Vu is. maybe I haven't seen enough time travel movies to think that deeply about them or having to resolve my confusion first led to me overlooking the other faults.


I agree with you about T3, it does not create a problem, as at the end it becomes clear that Judgement Day "just has to happen"; I guess to preserve the space time continuum .

I guess Karsten is right though if we look at the alternate ending of T2, where we see Sarah in the future... With the future now changed we could say "where did the robots come from in the first place"? But then we have the theory by Doc Brown about the parallel time line...

My head hurts

[Tom]

I have assigned ratings where missing using our new forum standard rating system.

[Tom]

Title: Deuxième vie
Year: 2000
Director: Patrick Braoudé
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Maria de Medeiros
Isabelle Candelier
Patrick Braoudé
Daniel Russo
Gad Elmaleh

Extras:
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

A french time-travel comedy. A guy who is indecisive finds himself 16 years in the future after a car accident where he has become a person he doesn't like very much. Now he tries to go back.
A nice little comedy.

Rating: