In Time

Saw In Time, a high-concept sci-fi. The idea is that in the future we've solved death and live so long as a clock on our forearms is kept from reaching 0. This is an obvious exaggeration of capitalism. Instead of money being a proxy for our quality of life, it is a proxy for our lives. Of course there's the super-wealthy who have millions of years saved up and also the poor folk who literally live day-to-day. The inescapable message is underscored by homeless people asking "for just a moment of your time," and other little clevernesses. The rich, for example, walk more slowly than the poor. Economic inequality is clearly on the film's mind.

After establishing this metaphor and making sure it's very clear, the film morphs into a sort of Bonnie-and-Clyde or Robin-hood-style film, where the protagonists rob banks and distribute money to the poor. For some poor people, this is obviously a bad idea (the protagonist's friend dies after drinking his windfall) but the poor are universally attractive, well-dressed people, and receive the money smiling and weeping.

I suspect this was once a book or a comic book. There's a lot of details that the film is obviously restraining itself from filling in: there's an arm-wrestling type of contest that individuals can play to steal time from each other. The time-system is explained via genetic modification. Does this explain why everyone is fairly attractive? What bureaucracy is place to enforce this? We see babies with forearm displays. There's oblique reference to a time-market so volatile that the price of coffee changes daily. What's going on?

The film is really mostly concerned with the economic inequality thing. At one point there's a showdown with one of the shadowy puppet-masters of the time-banking system. He smugly says "for some to be immortal, many must die." The stalwart protagonist counters "no one should be immortal if even one must die." A stirring sentiment, but don't forget we're not actually talking life and death here. Fundamentally, I think I agree with the films overall message (which is basically that life is not as fair as it could be) but it undercuts itself slightly by couching everything in this metaphor. It's fairly intelligent in its arguments (it does not, for example, make the mistake of thinking that the puppet-master actually has control over the system he benefits from) I just wish maybe it were yet more biting. I don't know.

Largely I enjoyed the film. The future-style is a spare, featureless one, full of matte textures and mono-coloured dresses. Everyone is very pretty and wears clothing that I like, so the film was easy to watch and easy to pay attention to. The fight of Bonnie-&-Clyde vs The Sheriff of Nottingham keeps the film rushing along, often turning on pointless reveals that don't really advance the plot but do keep us riveted. The social message about wealth redistribution and capitalism-crashing is seductive and well-laid-out but it's not executed in a very realistic or believable way. This is likely to rub some people wrong and wind up preaching to the choir which is too bad, but oh well. An entertaining film.