Midlands Review of Out of Time
midlandsmovies • December 28, 2020
Out of Time
Directed by Rebecca Harris-Smith
2021
Flirty Bird Productions
A criminal psychologist is taken hostage in new dark crime drama Out of Time from Midlands director Rebecca Harris-Smith.
She awakens from an attack at her offices to find herself tied to a chair where a man has her captive alongside a number of dead bodies on the ground beside her.
Alongside an ominous score, the film set up its pieces well and a mystery established as to how the perpetrator (an intense Jimm Rennie as Rob) came to be in this situation. And made even more complex owing to a bout of amnesia.
To try and establish a relationship, the doctor (Susannah May as Elizabeth Langdon) asks Rob to check his and the victims’ wallets. And here we begin to flashback to his moments from his past as he attempts to put the puzzle pieces of his memory together.
One area to note straight away is the editing from Jamie Hilton. Swift, sharp and focused on important moments in sequences, the film flows smoothly and at a pace to keep the intrigue at the forefront. It also helps clarify the narrative arc as well as individual story beats as the film becomes more intricate.
The vignettes from his past illuminate loving and also violent liaisons – mixing both tender moments with his wife (now one of the bodies on the floor) and a vicious encounter with a shadowy gang.
The skips in the story timeline certainly has echoes of Christopher Nolan’s output. The Memento-style memory holes, spousal loss (Inception) and a risky heist (Tenet) appeared to be the film’s main influences.
Yet the director does extremely well though to use this as a jumping off point and ensure the audience has all the relevant info to understand the plot. Perhaps more so than Nolan’s most recent film!
Another flashback reveals Rob’s involvement in a bank robbery and the final few scenes expose a dark incident that results in his current guilt before the film delivers an ending with a bang.
With influences from crime dramas and the twisting narratives of Nolan, Out of Time is an exciting 20 minutes where the tension never lets up. The director’s inclusion of a ticking clock (police storming the building) is just one of the many fantastic aspects to keep audiences on their toes.
And with this combination of elements and excellent technical attributes, the film acts as a great introduction for the filmmaker, hopefully making Out of Time the inception of a great filmmaking career ahead.
Michael Sales
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