isn't it about time?
: an about time commentary
welcome to my first commentary about a movie mark recommended! i didnāt plan on watching this movie nor did i plan to write a commentary about it before getting into it, but my mind told me to when i was close to finishing it.
i actually knew nothing about this movie before watching it, like i didnāt even know iād be dealing with time travel⦠one day i just wanted samyang carbonara and thought, hey, maybe i should watch a movie while eating.
i should stop talking about me and start getting on with the movie.
the romance bits:
tim wanting to get a girlfriend and hoping that time travel would help that ādreamā of his was such a man thing to do, to be quite honest. but iām not threatening him for it, i just think itās funny.
itās funny how he tried impressing charlotte only to truly try and talk on the last night, which ended with charlotte saying something about how she wished he hadnāt left it for the last night.
so he travels back in time to tell her earlier. but it ends with her saying he should try again on the last night.
i felt the little heartbreak and i really did like what he said after, well, her not loving him.
god, do i love that line, because yes! you can never and should never force someoneās feelings. feelings can always be faked but unless you have a change of heart, theyāll stay as just that, fake feelings. you canāt stop someone from falling out of love with you nor make someone fall for you. thatās not how it works.
we live in life. the most real thing we have, essentially, and we should understand that life has its limits and we canāt all have what we want.
sure, tim can change things but he canāt have it all. he canāt stop his dad from dying. he canāt stop his sister from getting hurt. he canāt run away and make his problems disappear. thatās not how life goes.
something i felt kind of iffy with was how he travelled back in time so much for mary and using things she told him as if they just met. how they met was kind of funny, kind of sweet, though. they couldnāt see each other but they got to know each other. itās sweet how they still met up outside, after the strawberry mousse in her eye and all. that meant they really did like each other.
it was sad how tim couldnāt meet mary that way after he travelled in time to help harryās play become successful. itās a shame how helping one friend results in losing the possible love of your life (which, in timās case, is actually the love of his life).
i like how he kept restarting the clock, though, in some sense of it. he was desperate to find her. i was iffy with him taking advantage of what mary told him before but like, you would do that too, wouldnāt you? if you finally met someone who actually seemed to like you back?
the way he complimented her fringe and continued to for their next āfirst meetingsā cause he knew she was happy to hear that. the way he brought up kate moss cause he knew she was a fan (though he pretended he was too, but again, wouldnāt you too?) and how he waited at the kate moss exhibit⦠thing⦠so heād have a chance to meet her again! kit kat being there too, i love her.
another favorite thing of mine from this movie was their last āfirst meeting.ā sure, he stole rupert and maryās supposed meeting but⦠like what mary said! ādickhead!ā
what i love about that meeting, though, is the other thing mary said.
i thought it was cute she said that,āa bit more time for the two of themāi didnāt know she didnāt actually come to the party with her car. and i think itās so much cuter that way. walk me to my car being walk me to my flat? cheeky. they didnāt have a bit more time together, though, they had hours, the whole night. and god, even forever.
why itās not just a romance:
about time isnāt just about love.
itās about family and friends and working through time travel. the movie started with tim talking about his family. his mom, and how she had āsomething solid about her. something rectangular, busy and unsentimental.ā then there was his dad who was āmore normalā and how heād given up teaching on his fiftieth and how they played table tennis. there was also uncle desmond whose āmind was on other things, though we never found out what.ā and of course, kit kat, his sister. āshe was then, and still is to me, about the most wonderful thing in the world.ā
yes, i took his words right from his mouth. but itās cause i liked the way he put it. and the next lines too.
how his childhood was āfull of repeated rhymes and patterns.ā a routine. tea on the beach, skipping stones, friday films. nothing got in the way of those times.
then quickly weāve got timās dad telling him about time travel and tim trying itāitās real. at this point, weāre heading to the romance.
tim talks about charlotte and then he finds mary. itās not all romance for this part though. i mentioned it earlier. kit kat was there, waiting with tim when he was finding mary. kit katās really sweet (also why i love calling her kit kat) and whilst mary was with tim and tim was with mary, i did slightly wonder about her.
then posyās birthday. she was late. sheās in the hospital. tim tried stopping it, even went the lengths to stop her from meeting jimmy altogether. but posy.
it was a mess. but with kit katās accident, mary and tim really stayed in the hospital. they didnāt leave her alone. they really, really, loved her.
but of course, another problem. their dad. cancer.
itās sweet how they went back in time together. one last time. before tim and maryās third child came. on the beach and just, having fun.
all this bit of the story, too, is where timās dad tells him his secret to happiness: live each day normally, with all the worries and anxieties the world can bring. then, live through it again, almost the exact same way, knowing how things go and appreciating everything more.
no more redoing everything ātil itās perfect. live life like everyone else but twice, the second time noticing the sweetness of the world.
his dad taught him how to stop running away from his problems, i think. the cancer made tim realize he should cherish every moment. no matter how silly or imperfect it is, maybe even painful.
oddity or ordinarity:
now letās talk time travel.
as i just mentioned, timās dad said the key to happiness required him to time travel every day, though reliving it almost the exact same way.
but a bit later in the movie, and a pretty while later in their lives, tim learned the final lesson: donāt travel back in time any more. he says he tries living every day as if he came back to it and as if it was his last.
tim had the power of time travel but ultimately stopped traveling back through time. it conveys a lesson we all should know true. cherish and enjoy every moment.
tim couldāve done almost anything with this gift of his, traveling back again and again as much as he wanted to. but he chose not to anymore. after multiple visits to the past, he chose to just stay in the moment. no rewinds or replays of his days. just ordinarity and not this time-travel oddity.
if we were in his situation, weād all figure that little lesson out but only after many mistakes. but now, heās telling it to us straight. live your life normally instead of going back to what has been done. as he said, we are all traveling through time. weāre just traveling through it in the ordinary way.
i think about time makes you understand the precious moments of each passing day and how each of your actions will have consequences. one thing you do has the possibility of changing your whole life, and it is best to not regret your actions. donāt let yourself stay pondering on what could have been. just think of what is. maybe i should learn to do that too.