About Time

“It’s about time, it’s about space, about two men in the strangest place.” So goes the opening lines to the theme song to the little seen 1960s television show It’s About Time. Funny thing, I was reminded of this rather obscure show while watching the equally obscure film About Time. If there’s any doubt I obsess over time travel as a genre check out this most recent article (Is time travel real?).

About Time is the third feature film by Richard Curtis (the other two being Love Actually and Pirate Radio). Curtis’ writing credits include The Girl in the Café, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the Black Adder series. About Time posits that the males of a certain bloodline have the ability to travel back in time. It’s the arrow theory, you can go back but you cannot go forward. About Time, like any good time travel narrative establishes the parameter of rules for its particular version of a time loop. In this case the male protag cannot go back in time before the birth of their children, though only after the child is born.

About Time spins a romance for the ages but as much as the film is about Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams as the object of affection, there’s a powerful line of thought being projected by Gleeson’s dad, played with class by Bill Nighy. As he matures Gleeson relies on his time travel gift less and less, but when he uses his last time it’s to go back and hang out with his father who he finds sprawled out on a couch reading Dickens.

This is actually the second time travel flick for McAdams if you count The Time Traveler’s Wife. Guest uncredited appearances from Richard E. Grant and Richard Griffiths highlight the proceedings. Curtis has an undeniable softie touch, and his fingerprints are a welcome touch to films unblemished by the self-interest of most films.

– Michael Bergeron