Film Review – TiMER
What if you could find out the exact moment that you were going to meet your soul mate? Would you do it? Would you want to know? Or would that ruin the excitement of it? If you want to know the instance when you will first see the person who will make you happier than anyone else in the world, it will just cost you $79.99 and easy monthly payments of $15.99. However, we are not responsible if you are unhappy with the soul mate you receive or if you are upset by how long or short it may be until you find that one.
This is what the company tells you right before they inject the TiMER in to your wrist, a device which will start a countdown as soon as it is injected, a countdown to when you meet the most important person in your life. But what happens if your TiMER is blank? This is the dilemma that Oona is stuck with. A blank TiMER means that “your one” has not purchased a TiMER yet. Oona dates TiMER-less guy after TiMER-less guy, convincing them all to get TiMER’s and over and over seeing their TiMER’s light up with numbers while hers remains dim and blank. She then meets a boy named Mikey whose TiMER has four months left on the clock. As they begin to hit it off despite mismatching TiMERs, they begin to question: is the TiMER always right?
Emma Caufield shines beautifully as Oona, a woman desperate to know that she even has a soul mate out there in the world. I had never seen or heard of this actress before, but I found that she has a small cult following from her years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While I am not a fan of that show, I know that anyone associated with Joss Whedon is always spectacular. The character of Oona was extremely reminiscent of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character Tom from (500) Days of Summer. Both Tom and Oona share a hopeless sense of romance, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, anxiously searching for someone to hold on to for the rest of their life. In addition, both actors excelled wonderfully in their roles, showing the determination of a person on a mission for love and the depression of a person who has given up on their search for “their one.”
The supporting crew was just as stellar as the lead. Michelle Borth played the role of Steph, a cynical, yet supportive sister excruciatingly well. The movie gave just enough focus to her character that we were able to understand reasons for her cynicism and exactly what was going inside her head. John Patrick Amedori, an actor little known aside from a few episodes of Gossip Girl, played Mikey, Oona’s love interest and a very loveable young adult. Once again, the movie gave enough focus so that it was not just Oona who you get to understand as a character but Mikey and Steph also. Being able to glimpse more than one character’s personality and motives made this movie much more enjoyable. You could see things from everyone’s point of view, making each character much more accessible to the viewer.
The writer/producer/director Jac Schaeffer only has one other credit aside from this movie, a documentary short from five years ago. This film was so phenomenally written and directed; I humbly wait for Jac to do another film for us to watch. I do have to mention one more thing which I do not usually notice. The score of this movie was brilliant. The composer, Andrew Kaiser, seemed to match perfectly what the characters were doing and thinking to the music which was playing at the time. This music was just another thing that reminded me of (500) Days of Summer, but this composer had nothing to do with that film.
One thing that this film accomplished was to open up many ethical doors and questions, all related to this mythical reality and its TiMER. As stated above, is the TiMER always right? Would it not be incredibly more awkward meeting your soul mate and instantly knowing that they were as such? And above all, would you get one? Would you want to know or would you leave it up to Fate? All of these questions come in to play and rattle around your brain begging to be answered. Even now, a few days after watching the film, I keep contemplating all of these questions and more. So, I ask you: would you get a TiMER?
As I am sure you have gathered from everything I have said thus far, I loved this movie. It was one of the best I have seen so far this year and by far one of the best independent movies I have ever watched. Looking through reviews of this, it appears that it has not been watched by many and not even particularly liked by those that have watched it. Nonetheless, I look forward to more things from everyone who was involved in this movie. I have drawn many comparisons between them already, but this movie was very much like (500) Days of Summer, only far superior. This is because TiMER had a hint of science fiction integrated what with the idea of having a TiMER strapped to one’s wrist. This combination of romance and sci-fi was a match made in heaven.
5 out of 5 stars