By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB“Time Lapse” is the first feature-length film directed by Los Alamos native, Bradley King. It has been making the rounds of Independent Film Festivals and is in Santa Fe this weekend, showing at 6 p.m. today at the Jean Cocteau Theatre (Montezuma at Guadalupe).
The film is entertaining and tight, a time-travel themed thriller which many movie-goers will find intriguing if not beguiling.
Callie (played by Danielle Panabaker) and her boyfriend Finn (Matt O’Leary), share an apartment with their friend Jasper (George Finn), who has a gambling addiction and a predilection towards recreational drug use. Finn is a struggling artist and Callie has set aside her dreams of being a writer while she works as a waitress.
Finn and Callie, who are managers of the court of apartments, learn that their neighbor across from them has died. When they check his apartment, they find a big machine that turns out to be a camera, and it’s pointed at the picture window of their own living room.
Sticking out of the machine is a Polaroid style photo—showing the party they plan to have the next evening. Jasper, of course, thinks they should use the camera to bet on the races and win big. His bookie, shall we say, has some issues with the idea.
And so begins the ethical dilemma on which the story is built: What to do with the camera and what to do when they find the neighbor’s body? The movie wouldn’t be much fun if the three protagonists didn’t make bad decisions at nearly every turn. Inevitably, all three of them suffer the consequences of their actions.
Every scene of this film has an artist’s touch. The props and furniture are retro nineties. The palette is a haunting green. All the scenes take place in and around the same apartment court. The result is an efficient use of space, the action feeding into a daily tableau vivant, and an intensification of the relationships among the three roommates.
Time Lapse is 104 minutes long. If you go, stay after the film for a Q & A session with Bradley King. If you miss it, check the Durango film festival next Spring to see if it is showing there. It is an intriguing piece of film meant for mature audiences (due to sex, drugs, language, violence). It certainly kept our interest throughout!