If you happened to see this movie in the theater, then I have to say you MISSED a pretty good movie. Because the theatrical version was a mediocre fantasy thriller. But the Director’s Cut, (available on the DVD) was an extraordinary story.
It’s not too late to rent it, folks.

The quote which defines and begins this movie comes from Chaos Theory.

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world”.

There are no butterflies per se in the movie, although the visual symbolism of butterfly shapes is reiterated throughout. But the idea should be clear. One small action or change can alter the future in a big way. And what if you COULD travel back in time?

WRITING AND DIRECTING

Eric Bess and J Mackeye Gruber co-wrote and co-directed this film. The script itself was at least 6 years old, while Gruber and Bess scrounged for financial backing. Gruber and Bess had worked on FINAL DESTINATION and had written and directed the movie BLUNT, a comedy, neither of which I have seen. Bess and Gruber were not exactly new to the film industry , but they are still young, and enthusiastic.

The original story for the movie was a nice piece of writing , and an intriguing , (although not plausible) story. It is on the Director’s cut. By the time INIFINI films was ready to release the movie , the plot had been changed several times and molded into a Hollywood ending. They took out several plot points, and cut the heart out of this one.

Bess and Gruber did a pretty good job of directing, although it is hard to judge on the basis of one movie. I recommend the audio commentary (only after you have watched the movie). Bess and Gruber are enthusiastic, self critical and interesting to listen to. Some of the back story also adds some depth to the plot.

THE PLOT

Note: Some small plot details are about to be revealed.

( from Doctor Redfield) “Just think of your mind as a movie. You can pause, slow down, rewind and fast forward”.

Evan Treborn is a young man in college, who has suffered blackouts losing whole chunks of memory from his childhood. His father Jason was institutionalized for insanity, and it is strongly implied that Evan inherited his father’s disease. The disease seems to have been caused by some physical defect in the brain itself. There will be a short period of exposition flashback to show what this was like for the young man growing up. Evan has been keeping a journal , first suggested to him by his doctor to retrieve his memory loss. When a college date opens one of his journals and starts reading, Evan flashes back to the past, suffering the first blackout in seven years. But he discovers something. Now when he blacks out, he can return to the past, and effect changes.

Since Evan has had some unusually traumatic events in his life, and in the lives of his childhood friends, Tommy, Les, and Kayleigh, he assumes this can be a good thing. However, he discovers, like his father did, that going back to the past will change things in unpredictable ways. So he tries again, and again..... It will be an interesting journey.


CINEMATOGRAPHY

Matthew F. Leonetti was the cinematographer (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, RUSH HOUR 2) and did a pretty good if not astoundingly wonderful job. This was a low budget film, filmed in Vancouver. (Note: The budget for this flick was 13 million. Wow! Things have changed. That used to be a lot of money!) I did not notice any stunningly beautiful scenes but the dynamic use of contrasts helped emphasize the progression of the plot (in both versions). What I particularly liked was the way the detail began to blur more and more with each trip back into the past, making the scenes a little more like hallucinations. They did this by bleaching some of the color and scrubbing out detail. Color in this film set the mood precisely.

The opening scene imagery was really quite well done. It showed progressive flickering cat scans of a brain, with the ventricles clearly visible, looking for all the world like the fluttering wings of a butterfly.


MUSIC

The music was unobtrusive, and that is what I liked best about it, to be honest. There is an identifiable love theme that repeats at the appropriate time. I like the fact that this movie was constructed well enough the music was not necessary to push the pace forward. Music credits go to Michael Suby. The score was recorded in Finland.


CAST AND PERFORMANCES

Alas, even though all the actors gave this a good run, you just are not going to get the big stars for a low budget movie, with a script that has been read by every major studio and rejected for six years. I think all the performers had good moments, but nothing truly amazing emerged in this film. The best performances are from Elden Henson, Callum Keith Rennie as Jason Treborn , and Eric Stoltz as Mr. Miller

Ashton Kuthcher as Evan Treborn. 25 years old when this movie was made, this actor is still pretty raw. After three viewings, I like him better than I did the first time, because I already know the character. I have not permitted myself to suffer through DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR, but I have seen CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, where Kuthcher plays the actor boyfriend (Hank) of the oldest girl (Norah). As an actor playing a actor I thought he was hilarious. He is uncredited in that flick. One of the problems with THIS performance is that he contributed some of the dialogue , ad libbing . If this character had come alive from the start, this film might have been memorable. Hard to refuse the guy who helped finance the flick. And he is not at all hard to look at.

Melora Walters as Andrea Treborn. She plays Evan’s mother, and it works for the child versions of the flick, and not so much when Evan is grown up. There is only 10 years difference , and Walters looks younger even that her real age. You may have seen her in MAGNOLIA, or more recently in COLD MOUNTAIN. The sound of her voice, though, sets my teeth on edge. I don’t know why, but walking around with edgy teeth is really uncomfortable.

Amy Smart as Kayley Miller. This is a good attempt by this actress, who has to play several drastically different versions of the same character. I don’t care much for the character herself, in any of her personas. She was 27 at the filming and looks older than her lead. The evil Kayley was her best manifestation. You may have seen her in STARSKY AND HUTCH recently.

Elden Henson as Lenny Kagan. One of the best performances in this flick. The changes in this character are the best and most drastic, requiring a terrific effort by this young actor. He had to gain 25 pounds in a month to play one of the manifestations of Lenny, and is so different that I honestly thought it was a different actor. It doesn’t hurt that Lenny remains my favorite character in this movie.

William Lee Scott as Tommy Miller-An excellent performance of some drastically different Tommy manifestations. He was 31 years old when this movie was filmed, but pulls off the role quite well.

John Patrick Amedori as Evan Treborn at 13-My only problem with this performance is that this kid was supposed to have been related to the 7 year old version of Evan. I think it was the most difficult role in the movie. This version of Evan has to face adolescence , and some emotionally charged events, and the actor does this well. Some heartbreaking scenes.

Irene Gorovaia as Kayley Miller at 13-Not a bad performance, although not a great deal was required to be quiet and pretty and two feet taller than her brother who was supposed to be her own age.

Kevin Schmidt as Lenny at 13-This was the best transition character in the movie, and the raw material from which the different adult versions of Lenny would be forged. Yep. I believed this one.

Jessie James as Tommy Miller at 13-We never really see this character as any thing but a psychopath in training. He is smaller than his friends, but the most aggressive. As you get thorough the movie, you do understand some of the reasons he got that way. This kid stole the show as evil Tommy. However, it also left me very little sympathy for him, and made the good adult Tommy seem to come from nowhere.

Sarah Widdows as Kayley Miller at 7-This was definitely a weak link in the casting. A pretty little girl , she nevertheless looks much younger than the kids who were her own age, and seems a little slow. No, make that a lot slow. Of course there may be psychological reasons for her , but let’s not go there. Even in the final throwback she seemed more like a 3 year old than a 7 year old to me.

Jake Kaese as Lenny at 7-This performance was virtually cut from both versions of the final film, but you can see him in deleted scenes.

Cameron Bright as Tommy Miller at 7-Now this primordial seed Tommy is predictive of the evil psychotic Tommy that emerges in adolescence, and later as an adult. But there is nothing showing in this character that could develop into born again Tommy in one version. I think he may actually be taller than his 13 year old version.

Eric Stoltz as Mr. George Miller -An unattractive role as the twisted Miller dad, Stoltz does his usual excellent job. I didn’t think I could ever see this actor as evil, but he pulled it off, with room to spare.

Callum Keith Rennie as Jason Treborn-Brief performance by an extraordinary actor. Emotionally charged and pivotal plot point in both versions of the flick.

Nathaniel DeVeaux as Dr Redfield. This character is one of the “constants” in the flick and does not change personalities as do most of the others. It was a good credibility anchor for the flick, and a nice piece of work by the actor. You may have sen him in Spielberg’s TAKEN miniseries.


DISCUSSION

Of course the idea that one can go back in time and correct mistakes is an intriguing one. We all have at least one thing we might have done differently. Did Evan really go back in the past and change things, or was he always merely psychotically delusional? I would certainly believe this a third possibility on the basis of the theatrical version. The Director’s cut, however, gives a story with a beginning and an end, with all the ambiguity resolved.

Placing this flick in the category of “What if” DEMANDS that the viewer buys into the original premise. This will require a little imagination, and a willingness to be entertained. Not knowing many of the actors or their previous work made it easier for me. And being intrigued by psychology and personality development is essential. I willingly admit this movie is NOT for everybody.

Using this movie for this write-off was maybe not the best choice . In fact I have written several reviews of classics with better examples of scintillating dialogue. Today’s movies are simply not geared or constructed around dialogue. In fact, dialogue is probably the most mundane aspect of this entire movie. While it doesn’t score 0 on a scale of one to 10, it won’t go above 4. I can’t agree with IMDB on the memorable quotes for this flick. The only other interesting line of dialogue is spoken by Jason Treborn:

“You can’t change who people are without destroying who they were.”

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

I have enjoyed this movie all three times that I have watched it. Granniemose stayed awake through two of them. That ought to tell you all you need to know to get to your local movie emporium and rent it. It’s worth a look.


*****off topic

To all of my friends who have missed me: I have missed a dozen write-offs, and I apologize. I will try to catch up on some of my reading too. The book I am illustrating has hit a block on the writer’s end, so I may have more time for writing and reading reviews. I am a little rusty at writing reviews but the next one should be better. I have been told that I am a better artist than a writer, so who knows?

For more and better entries in this writeoff, please visit the following link:

http://www.epinions.com/user-dbcint#long_bio


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older