A gritty mind-bending thriller about three twenty-somethings who find themselves in an impossible time labyrinth, where each day they awaken to the same terrifying day as the preceding one.
The three twenty-somethings are Kyle Halsted (Dustin Milligan), Sonia Logan (Amanda Crew), and Michael Weeks (Richard de Klerk). They're in a rehab center, counting the days until they get out. It seems to be a fairly large center but these three in particular have gotten close. They are in their third month at the the facility and in a group therapy session, the counselor is telling them that it's time to start making amends. While they live on the grounds, they are granted day passes to see family. Making amends is a new policy required by the facility they attend.
Kyle is the main protagonist. We watch his little sister shun him in front of her friends at the school he use to attend. A school administrator obviously aware of his troubled past, threatens to call the police. We see Sonia unable to talk to dying relative. Lastly, Michael visits his father who is in prison for something Michael did because of the drugs.
After their first unsuccessful day, they gather for another group session to talk about the process. Everyone is stoic and Michael lashes out and leaves the meeting. The three gather outside and bemoan the life they currently lead. They recognize the harm they done to themselves and their families, but have yet confront the damage.
Night falls and during a rain storm there appears to be a power surge. All three are shocked in some way. It takes a few hours but it starts to become apparent they are caught in some kind of loop where the day keeps repeating. Resetting itself each night.
Because I do recommend this, I am going to avoid as many spoilers as possible. What I will say is that because the day repeats they begin to get reckless. No thought is given as to why the day repeats, just that it will and that fact allows them to live without consequence. Following back into old habits that got them there in the first place we start to see a different side.
Michael, while his styling is slightly rougher, in the first ten minutes it's easy to seem he's a user confronting his demons and fully intends to get better. Instead he lets his deviant side ring. Kyle, clearly positioned to be the more sympathetic character tries to hold him back, but has already crossed the line himself. And there's Sonia. Sonia's character bothered me a little. She advanced the movie, but not as a character, but simply as an object. We get to see her have some kind of closure at the end, but the reality is that she has no evolution. She is Kyle's "damsel in distress".
I'm going to avoid going on a feminist rant since I enjoy the "damsel in distress" troupe in most movies. I really do. It's just, usually there's more substance to the damsel and in this instance, the character of Sonia fell flat for me. It's probably worth noting, there's a far amount of violence in this movie.
All in all I really enjoyed the movie. I needed something a little deeper and darker than some of the other stuff I watch. I know the idea of repeating days is not new, but I enjoyed how it's framed in drug addicted. Often times movies about repeating are shlocky comedies, but I like that this is more a movie about redemption. And I don't feel like it hit me over the head with the message either.
You have to fall before you an rise and sometimes that means falling multiple times.
No comments:
Post a Comment