Timecrimes

Hector (Elejalde) has just moved into his new house and is taking a break in his back garden, surveying his surroundings with binoculars. After investigating his origins, he is attacked by a sinister figure with his head wrapped in pink bandaging. Hector is chased to a nearby laboratory and hides himself in a confinement space which turns out to be part of a scientific instrument: the time machine. He ends up travelling back one hour earlier and now has to take action to save his life.

Everyone who has watched Memento knows how intellectually demanding time-warp films can get. The idea of a time machine means that the subject and the double (or even triple) can co-exist in the same time and this is exactly where all the excitement and confusion comes from. But don't worry, the film’s breathless pace means that you probably will not have time to worry about what exactly is going on.

Although this is a low-budget sci-fi thriller made in Spain with a cast of five, the script is complex and brilliant. Of course, for any crime film you'll have a surprisingly clever ending and there is no exception here. The fact that the film is made in Spanish does not harm the fun because the idea is so clever that you would like to watch it from the original language. The film was directed in such a way that it is hard to believe the director Vigalondo is a first-timer. Just leave the physics behind and enjoy the adrenaline rush.

Jeffrey Choi