The Price of Life

Aired on Showtime as part of the 30 Minute Movie series in the early 90's. This short film is set in a place where people used credit cards and traded time off their life instead of money. The main characters are a young clever dealer and his sister who squanders all her time. A wealthy woman takes an interest in the kid and shows him some of the rules aren't as rigid as they are told, such as the one where you can go to some place only once in your life and make one single request. I think he gives time to his mother when he makes his request earlier in the story?

This aired once and only once when I was around 8 years old and yet it haunted me for over three decades.

The concept and premise is very unique. Time as currency. You pay by the minutes, hours, days and even years of your life. And yet that's not the message of the film but rather how different people choose to use that time.

Some squander, some give it to their community, others rock back and forth listening to the seconds tick by.

Rewatching it, I think it's because each character was allowed to make his or her own mistakes was why it stuck with me. It's made very clear what path each person is on, you know where this is going, but in the end that's life and each has to live their own.

I'm removing a star for the ending, it always felt foreign to me though now as an adult I can identify it as "the American dream". Pull yourself out of the gutter and hustle hustle hustle. The rules apply to the poor, the rich make the rules and all that jazz, the underdog story...etc.

I'm pretty sure the movie "in time" ripped it of but decided to focus on the /time is currency/ premise and all the technicalities that come with it instead of actually trying to say something like this movie did.

I saw this movie as a kid by accident, watching over my neighbor's house and it stuck in my mind for years, but i couldn't remember the name of the movie or of the actors. Working in a video store i would spend entire shifts going over the Sci-Fi section trying to find this gem but to no avail. I guess this really is the age of information when you can find childhood memories with a click of a mouse. (Thanks IMDb for your power search). Anyway, does anyone know how to get hold of a copy? I guess it's never come out for rental... or has it? Overall, great movie, great idea, compelling and interesting, the acting was decent and the movie's style was dark and oblique.

Don't expect a single special effect or any glamorous settings. It is a budget movie, so do not expect a Hollywood production.

The movie just tells a story about a boy from the start of his life until his youth.

The movie takes place in a dark and grim world. Maybe looking a bit post apocalyptic. In this world the currency you pay for goods is time. And when no more time then you die.

The actors do a good job.

I can recommend watching the movie. If you do not like the movie then you do only waste 40 minutes :-)

Forgive me Lord for I am biased...

Like most people, I first contacted this "object" back in the days of its first appearance on TV. I was just a kid, and it had the most profound impact on me. Gradually forgot about it until, years later, while studying cinema, was asked what were my first audiovisual recollections... and it all came back to me. Finally found it... finished watching it a couple of minutes ago.

(I've been here - he thinks - feels like grandmas attic)

I have noticed that the more formal a film/video is, the most enduring is its impression on me. This is not one of those cases. And yet...

The dystopian world portrayed re-got me by the hemispheres... sure, it poses some issues for the contemporary viewer, as the production values are obviously not on a par with the potential of this universe. The script (thought for 40 mn) and casting also come short, and it has become very dated... so, in order not to make "anachronic" judgments, please remember the TV budgets and general technological conditions at the time.

I will not go on describing it any more, for am afraid of killing something fragile that apparently subsisted within.