Things Will Be Different, the latest by Tracy Hilaire alongside Michael Felker tells the story of a troubled brother and sister that tries to come to terms with their shared history. The Emily Campbell spinoff takes us through its male lead, where there seems to be a violent crime committed and, as you can expect, time travel is involved. There is a melting pot of genres involved here along with a criminal undertone which we will discuss later in the blog.
As Joseph Thompson and Sidney Dandy make the routine trip to a secluded farmhouse that they often rob, it is not the crime that draws them to the house, but rather the unappealing closet and manual clocks. With a time traveling twist being followed throughout, the movie does end on a relatively standard note, but the turns and twists throughout help keep the audience on their toes. All in all, the movie would definitely keep the audience intrigued.
Physical items scattered around the house, including VHS tapes, CDs, and subsequently a tape recorder that functions as a means of communication between multiple timelines, are indicators that they have such media in their home. They will wait for the time when the jobs they do can be stopped. Their synchronization period is over and it is impossible for them to leave now. Home can be reached only after executing an unwelcome visitor, while in the meantime they are stuck in a “vice grip”.
Joseph and Sydney must employ much moderation in their distance from the property, or risk succumbing to grievous internal bleeding. They realized hopes only go back to these borders made of blood, which were most likely left behind by those who previously tried biding out of that time in prison. It is controlled on the other side of the portal but is not explained in detail or science lingo, so it remains a mystery. Such photos that Sydney examines lead her to wonder whether she was inside a replication of Father’s ideas of reality she built; alas, what she finds doesn’t suffice as proof.
Carissa Dorson the Director of Photography, fulfills a few great visual choices to add value to the shots and emphasizes the theme of a story which prevents the image of two actors in the set from becoming stale, a mockery, and a distinctive feature of the independent cinema. For example, a panoramic 360 transition is used to show that the siblings have been trapped in this limbo for an entire year by rotating around the earth. Later on Dorson’s other similar camera panning works also not only add to the stressed feeling that the film engenders but also remind us of the way hands of a clock move, which is what they are perceiving time to be, circular. At times, match-cut close-ups depict the conjunction of the past and the now while the edge of the picture blurs because of the choice of a lens giving the impression that time is being increased in migration.
Those impressive turns in the visual aspects of the movie give way to the portrayal of Thompson and Dandy. Their characters’ emotional struggles can be seen in both of the actors and at this point, it seems they are both interjecting a little too much, together with the present situation and the animosity they feel towards each other and even how they perceive what they’ve done becomes part of the narrative. The contrast between Joseph’s weather-beaten face and Thompson’s scorching yell is striking on its own. As he sobs at the idea of either dying or wandering aimlessly for eternity, the seriousness of it all sinks in. Dandy stands firm on the notion that she is the stronger out of the two, however, she plays the character of Sidney in a much colder tone implying that she is more reliant on Joseph and his character in an ideal situation where there is more room for that trust to grow.
Yet, Things Will Be Different amps up the complexity and maintains a bewildering and more conceptual intuition that feels a bit closer to Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” instead of Rian Johnson’s “Looper” which is more straightforward. Due to the plot demanding pen and paper by its end to remember the sequence of twists and timelines, it’s no longer hard to find links between characters. Joseph and Sydney’s matching tattoos, for example, or their names that might emerge as a better potential key to the chain of events, are specifically said to support this recursive connection.
The two indie directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have pitched up at the studio where Felker works claiming to be shooting yet another time-bending flick called “The Endless” and auto financing activist Felker along with other Morris owners prepared to be part of it this time around. Joseph and Sidney’s target audiences are treated to elements of surprise, such as the mention of the character being assassinated and more. Uneasy moments are introduced with the help of editing conducted by Felker alongside Rebeca Marques.
While the equilibrium between the concept and the human side may be at odds at times, I’d say that “Things Will Be Different” is a great attempt at combining what appeals to the heart and what appeals to the mind.
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