The director of Love Actually, Notting Hill, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, Richard Curtis, brings us About Time, a fresh and whimsical spin on the typical love story.
21-year-old Tim Lake (Dohmnall Gleeson) is your ordinary guy until he learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that he can travel in time. Of all the possibilities he can choose from (e.g. money and power), he chooses to use his ability to search for love. Tim moves from Cornwall to London to pursue his career as a lawyer, where he meets the beautiful but shy Mary (Rachel McAdams). With a little help from his time traveling ability, Tim is able to structure a life that he has always wanted. However, as life goes on, Tim realizes that there are aspects of his life that he cannot always control.
Although Rachel McAdams is typically featured in love stories, About Time surpassed my expectations with many delightful surprises.
There is a rather raw quality in this subdued, picturesque English setting: the “realness” as characterized by Tim’s quirky family members like Uncle Desmond and his sister Kit Kat, as well as the “realness” characterized by the various awkward silences in Tim and Mary’s growing love for one another. The awkward silences remind us of those embarrassing memories we have all had with love, which allow for comic relief and smiles. The relationship between Tim and Mary is sweet, but fresh. There was a sprinkling of cheeky references throughout the film that made the audience laugh out loud as well as sentimental scenes that made the audience teary-eyed, allowing for a engaging and emotionally complex story.
Naturally, many people would be weary of the unrealistic aspect of time travel.
However, not only do we observe the budding relationship between Tim and Mary, we also observe how Tim comes to understand the world around him. For instance, Tim could not always go back in time to help himself and others. We learn that traveling in time, as enticing as it sounds, cannot solve all problems. We are stuck being boring human beings, forcing us to accept who we are and life as it is.
The film leaves you with a warm, fuzzy afterthought: that there are no limits to you having an extraordinary, ordinary day.
About Time premieres in theaters on November 8th.
