Doin' Time

Recently, our friends at flux hosted a screening at the intimate Ricardo Montalban Theatre of Director Nacho Vigalondo's feature debut, LOS CRONOCRIMENES (TIMECRIMES for those of the English-speaking persuasion) - - a wholly original entry in the science fiction genre that is part time-travel fantasy, complemented by equal parts slapstick and melodrama with a bit of horror thrown in for good measure. Imagine REAR WINDOW meets BACK TO THE FUTURE wherein the protagonist of the film, Hector (Karra Elejalde), after a seemingly innocent, recreational escape into voyeurism, leads him down a rabbit hole - - or in this case, worm hole - - of unforeseen consequences. If you were to merge the energetic drive of Marty McFly with the traditional sensibilities of L.B. Jeffries as well

as the evil-that-men-do attitude harbored by that of Lars Thorwald, this cinematic compote would result in the character of Hector, wonderfully realized by Elejalde. Director, Vigalondo, himself, plays Chico, an Igor to Hector's Dr. Frankenstein, who unwittingly (so he says) projects Hector through time in brief spurts of a few minutes to an hour. Hector soon realizes that the man he may have been spying on from his backyard is in fact, a duplicate of himself. The remarkable phenomena of time-travel is placed in the hands of an atypical hero which makes the whole story believable as he tries to solve not only the mystery surrounding a pink-bandaged murderer, but also who the man is at his home with his wife. In a series of ambitious twists, we realize that he is all three clones of Hector - - how fitting that the vat where Chico lowers Hector into the time machine resembles that of a wet birth chamber - - as if they were conceived and born from it.

There are moments of palpable terror as Hector discovers that his doubles are out to destroy him and return to (each of) their respective homes transforming it into a twisted version of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Subtle visual cues abound including arrows that seem to lead in various directions, a curved lighted pathway with flashing bulbs that resemble the twinkling diodes found on the monitors in the institute harboring the time machine. Meaningless objects found along Hector's journey (a tipped-over bicycle, a pair of scissors and an overturned dumpster) gain resonance as the mystery unravels, much like the bloodied bandage from the face of the film's protagonist/antagonist uncoils to reveal a visage of genuine horror.