Movie Review://Timecrimes

Timecrimes, or Los Cronocrimenes, is a Spanish language indie darling that my wife and I just got around to watching last night.

As with Let the Right One In it's becoming readily apparent that the best writers in film are not American.

Timecrimes is a very elegant and nuanced attempt at a science fiction cliche that is as old as HG Well's disco shoes.

The film looks like it costs $5 dollars and only has four people in it, but the director Nacho Vigalondo (who also plays a character) gets so much out of the budget that you will never notice.

Timecrimes is one of the best science fiction films I've seen in a long time, might be best ever.

Hector is moving in to a new home with his wife. When she leaves to go the the market, Hector does some peeping with his binoculars and catches a young lass stripping.

Hector, reacts as most men, he tries to get a better look. When there are too many trees in the way, he takes a hike into the woods. He finds the girl, naked and unconscious. While trying to see if she is ok, Hector is stabbed by some guy covered in bandages with a pair of scissors.

Hector flees to an abandoned complex. He finds a walkie talkie and some guy helps Hector escape to a silo. The young man inside (Nacho Vigalondo) says the best place to hide is this tank with a lid.

Big mistake, Hector wakes up an hour and a half in the Past. The young man (imdb.com lists him as El Joven (The Youth) says he needs to just wait and after an hour and a half he can go home, the Hector in the past will disappear.

Hector from the future decides that he can't wait and he needs to go home. Every single decision he makes from this point brings tragedy to his life in the future.

I won't say anything more at this point.

There are so many twists in this movie that it would seem hard to follow, but the absence of special effects and side plots or too many people on camera, simplify the world. Everything is a tidy complexity. Everything is wonderful.

The main character, Hector, is played wonderfully by Karra Elejande. Hector is a clumsy fool in the beginning of the film and transforms into a wounded hero. He is the anchor of the film.

Timecrimes rates a 86% on rottentomatoes.com.

I give it 100%