-G. K. Chesterton
"Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back."
-G. K. Chesterton
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About Time is a 2013 romantic comedy/drama which stars Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson, and Bill Nighy. As you may be aware, I very rarely watch rom-coms from the modern era, generally preferring ones produced in the 1930's and '40's. The other night, however, I had to bake blueberry muffins and was looking for something to watch while I did so- something which I wouldn't have to really concentrate on. I was scrolling through options on Amazon Prime- avoiding Rings of Power like the plague- and happened across About Time. I had a vague recollection of having read a review at some point which was very enthusiastic about the movie, so I thought, what the heck, if it's really dumb or boring at least I won't be worried about getting caught up in it and letting the muffins burn in the oven. It was a pleasant surprise to find that I actually rather enjoyed it... not enough to burn the muffins, though. First of all, it's necessary to engage in willful suspension of disbelief while watching this film because its plot hinges on time travel. Gleeson's character Tim Lake lives in Cornwall with his family: his father James (played by Bill Nighy), mother Mary, absentminded Uncle Desmond, and his bohemian sister KitKat. On his 21st birthday, Tim's dad sits him down and tells him the family secret: the men of their family have always had the ability to travel back in time. There are rules and limits... they can't travel forward in time and they can only return to moments in their own past, no further. So, as James says sardonically, they can't go back and kill Hitler or anything like that. Tim is naturally incredulous but gives it a try; his father has explained that to do it: they have to go into a quiet place and concentrate on when they want to go. Tim climbs into a wardrobe, still convinced his dad is having him on, and thinks of the previous New Years Eve when he awkwardly shook the hand of a girl instead of kissing her at midnight, which hurt her feelings and made him feel like a loser. When he climbs out of the wardrobe, he's gob smacked to find that he's actually gone back to that evening. This time Tim kisses the girl, making New Years Eve end on a high note instead of the cringing embarrassment it was the first time round. He returns to real time, shocked but now a believer. Tim's next attempt at using his newfound ability is less successful. His flakey sister has invited a friend- Charlotte- to stay with the family for the summer. Tim develops a massive crush on her and, the day before she's scheduled to leave, works up the courage to tell her so. She tells him regretfully that, as she's going to be leaving, it's too late for anything to happen between them; she wishes he'd said something earlier in the summer. Remembering that there's something he can do about that, Tim transports himself back to a month or so previously and once again approaches Charlotte... she tells him that they haven't known each other long enough and to ask her again at the end of her stay. Whereupon Tim realizes that Charlotte just isn't into him and would find an excuse to put him off no matter when he asked her out. Soon after this, Tim leaves home and moves to London to start his career as a junior lawyer. He rents rooms from an old friend of his father's: Harry, a playwright who is kind of an angry Eeyore... bitter, sarcastic, and always expecting the worst. Tim is lonely in London and desperately wants to be in a relationship. In hopes of meeting someone, he and Rory (a fellow young lawyer who is even more awkward around women than Tim) attend a Dining In the Dark event. While having dinner- in the dark- Tim strikes up a conversation with Mary, an American girl working for a publishing company in London. They hit it off even though they can't see each other, and afterwards Tim waits outside the restaurant, hoping to actually meet her in person. When Mary comes out, and he ascertains that it is Mary, they are both a bit shy and awkward but obviously like each other. Tim asks if he can have her number so that he can call her the next day to ask her out on a date and Mary happily programs it into his phone. Tim goes home in a great mood only to find Harry drinking, morose and furious. Harry's new play- the best thing he's ever written- had been opening that night, but it was derailed when one of the main actors forgot all his lines and made a disaster of the big dramatic scene. Instead of it being the success it had shown promise to be, the audience- and critics- left laughing over what a fiasco the play had ended in. Tim feels really badly about this- especially since he blew it off to go to dinner- and decides to try to fix the situation. He transports himself back to earlier in the evening and goes to the theatre before the play starts, entering the star's dressing room and suggesting to the actor that he go over his lines for that scene one more time. The actor is irate and profanely orders Tim out, but afterwards picks up his script and starts reading. Tim goes and sits in the audience with Harry only to realize as the fateful scene begins that he spoke to the wrong actor; it was the other co-star who forgot his lines. As the play comes to an embarrassing standstill, Tim makes his way to the cloakroom and transports himself back a short time, hastily scrawling the forgotten lines on pieces of cardboard and positioning himself offstage in the actor's range of sight so he can see the dialogue just as he blanks on it. The play is a massive success but to his dismay, Tim realizes that by altering what happened, he missed the Dining In the Dark event and didn't meet Mary. Aghast, he checks his phone and sure enough, her number has disappeared. Desperate to meet Mary but not wanting to ruin Harry's one chance of success by going back and changing the past back to how it was originally, Tim wracks his brain and remembers that Mary spoke of being a big fan of Kate Moss and wanting to attend a Kate Moss photo exhibition which is currently appearing at a local gallery. He spends the next week haunting the gallery in his free time, hoping to see Mary. KitKat, who has moved to London now to be with her deadbeat boyfriend, sometimes comes with him to keep him company. Finally Tim's perseverance pays off and he sees Mary across the crowded room, standing with her best friend. He goes up to her and introduces himself, catching her interest by repeating the things she had told him she liked about Kate Moss, but passing them off as his own thoughts. He manages to talk his way into having lunch with the two women, but is shocked and dismayed when Mary's new boyfriend- whom she met at a party a day or two after the Dining In the Dark event- shows up. (To Be Continued...) Related Posts:“There’s just something beautiful about walking in snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you’re special.” – Carol Rifka Brunt “I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas. It brings people together while time stands still.” – Rachel Cohn Related Posts: “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass I was chatting with one of my nephews at Sunday dinner, and he was describing a bit of the plot of the book he is currently reading: Cue For Treason written by English author Geoffrey Trease in 1940. I have never read it, but his account of it- two runaway children in Elizabethan England who end up working in theatre in London and meeting William Shakespeare- rather reminded me of a children's novel set in the same time period which I'm very fond of: Master Skylark, written by John Bennet in 1897. Related Posts: |
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