Timecode (2000)

Timecode is a rather unique film. For the duration of the film, the screen is split into four quadrants while four different parts of a story take place. The entire film is shot in real-time and the audio fades in and out between the four screens which are somewhat related. There is sort of a plot to this film but the film is so terrible I'm not sure it's even worth mentioning. This film was supposed to be some sort of experiment in film making so the actual plot was largely irrelevant.

While this film is occasionally praised for its innovation, there is nothing at all innovative about this film. The notion of showing several screens at the same time goes back as far as the silent epic Napoléon (1927) which projected three scenes at once. I have not seen that film so I cannot comment any further. Shooting a film in real-time is nothing new either - Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope was also shot in real-time. I have seen that particular film and it is vastly superior to this film in every regard - the plot is interesting, the acting is is good, the film is easy to follow, and it even has philosophical undertones. Timecode offers no interesting acting, almost no plot, and brings no innovations.

At first this film seems hard to follow, but as the film progresses this is no longer a problem. Most of what happens is irrelevant to what little plot this film has. The fact that the audio constantly switches between screens means that no action is ever maintained.

Overall, this is the worst film I have ever seen by a very large margin. This was an absolute chore to sit through and this film feels like a very long film despite the fact it's barely 90 minutes. Gone with the Wind seems to go by faster than this film. I was tempted to turn the film off constantly while watching it, but I was able to finish it. I'll give the film a couple points for what it tries to do but very few points for anything else. The low score I have assigned seems to be quite generous. I cannot think of a single redeeming quality in this film and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

9/100
F

UP NEXT: It's a Wonderful Life

I would love to know why a history of American film class would show this film. This film was poorly-received when it was released and remains poorly-received. There are hundreds...no thousands of American films better than this yet when selecting 15 films to sum up American film the instructor chose this? The selection of this film leads me to believe the instructor is as close to an expert of American film as I am an expert of speaking Mandarin Chinese.

We watch this but not Citizen Kane?

Wow!

You're really going to like It's a Wonderful Life. You already like Jimmy Stewart, and the movie has good comedy and philosophical meaning.

bobrob2004 wrote:

Wow!

You're really going to like It's a Wonderful Life. You already like Jimmy Stewart, and the movie has good comedy and philosophical meaning.

It can't be worse than Timecode! :haha:

I'll probably see it in a day or two. I've got some DVDs at home so there's a chance I'll see something else first but we'll see...