The Incident
Christopher Cross
Time travel movies generally have one main problem: they explain too much too quickly. Most of the time, this is intended to create a confusion that reflects that of the characters going through the predicament of time loops. This means that all of the plot elements surrounding the final explanation need to be entertaining, intriguing, and cohesive.
Although Isaac Ezban’s time travel film, The Incident, suffers from this problem, parts of it are interesting. Two brothers and a detective find themselves trapped in an infinite staircase after an explosion occurs somewhere outside of their apartment building. There’s no way in or out of the stairwell, but every day, anything within the room that is not biological (humans, animals, etc.) is duplicated. So every day, a vending machine in that stairwell doubles its stock, with no obvious explanation as to how or why. Meanwhile, another story has a family trapped on an infinite road after the explosion.
The two storylines are related in that there is someone injured, or at risk of dying, when this explosion happens. Because of these infinite loops, the characters are able to grow and see how they cope with the loss of someone with whom they are trapped in time.
Unfortunately, the film is rarely entertaining, and though the final explanation does help make sense of what has happened, the actual character growth takes a sideline to the semantics of the science fiction plot. This is a shame because moments of grief are far more interesting in terms of character development than seeing the before and after of someone suffering a loss — especially when the added stress of time travel is involved.
A Different Drummer
Tessa Perkins
Based on a 10-year study of eccentrics by Dr. David Weeks, John Zaritsky’s film profiles seven very interesting people and explores the concept of eccentricity.
Daniel Suelo hasn’t spent or earned a cent in over 14 years. He lives in caves, uses the town library as his office, and claims he is happier now and feels more secure than he ever did when he had money. Darla Shaw is an entertainer who seems to play dress up for a living. She received a PhD at 60 and is having the time of her life while waiting for someone to show her the rule book of how she’s supposed to act.
Gary Holloway takes people on unusual tours of San Francisco, collects tea tins, and hosts séances for his Martin Van Buren fan club. Inventor John Ward of the UK doesn’t care what others think, and if you tell him he can’t do something, he’ll build it anyway. One of his most prized possessions is his fully functional three-wheeled fire engine.
The duck lady of Vancouver, Laura-Kay Prophet, told her tragic story of being forced into homelessness and feeling like she was worthless. Her ducks got her through and she eventually started her charity Duck Soup. How about voting for England’s Monster Raving Looney Party? Lord Toby Jug carries on the legacy of party founder Screaming Lord Sutch.
Dr. Weeks found that eccentrics live longer, are more self-sufficient, want to make others happy, score higher on IQ tests, and have a great sense of humour. So maybe these folks have got it right. This documentary will get you thinking about what it means to be ‘normal.’
