7 Splinters in Time

Not sure if other reviewers agree, but I got a vibe of Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), particularly during the rants of "John Luka".

I didn't enjoy this a great deal, especially the grating and obnoxious score. It never lets up. I got the impression that the film changed direction a few times in the editing room. It was initially completed in 2014 before being re-edited over the next four years.

I must confess that with about 25 minutes to go, I paused the film to read some reviews to see if I could make sense of it. Within a few seconds of restarting, the librarian character explained everything! So hang in there if you get that far :-)

This movie is really pretty confusing for the first 50 minutes, and yet, I could not look away, but I absolutely get why others hate it. While it seemed it was just convoluted for the sake of being convoluted, it actually has a reason, but that doesn't make it any less disorienting and confusing at times. Somebody said this isn't philosophical, wow are they wrong, this movie is incredibly philosophical, there is a lot going on here with a lot of different theories on time travel and other scientific theories that have been touched on in scifi, but I do feel this movie has a unique take, despite it's clear influences. I would argue it is more a philosophical movie than a time travel movie, but I guess, watch it and decide for yourself. This has the makings of a cult classic, it really is a very unique watch and it is absolutely not for everyone.

I am not sure why some have said the acting, cinematography, or effects were not good, I did not find that to be the case. The visual aesthetic is pretty fantastic given this movie likely didn't cost more than $50,000, if that. Yes, the music can be a bit overbearing at times, that might be the one complaint I have about it, but most of it suits the movie and gives it a unique feel, the score itself is good. The color pallet is a bit washed out and yellowish, and the settings feel very old. I am just really intrigued at how they accomplished such a unique look and feel on such a low budget, the movie looks really good.

Again, especially given the budget, I really felt they did a fantastic job. I don't know what else to say really because I don't want to ruin the story, or the numerous twists and turns.

I have seen thousands of movies. And this is in the bottom 10. I think it is possible to enjoy this movie if you are on LSD or something

This is not your typical movie and it never wants to be that. It's a bit "out there". Stylized very much like Darren Aranofsky's film "Pi" , it tries to put you in the mindset of the main protagonist Darius. It's a film that requires patience and willingness to just go with the flow. Edoardo Ballerini is superb as the lead character, Darius, who is confused yet determined. And director Judet-Weinshel makes effective use of busy camera work to keep the viewers in a desired state of curiosity and WTF confusion. This will either please -or- really annoy the viewer.

The concept of a quantum multiverse within the context of time travel is difficult to grasp for many, but when it is encased in a multi-layered highly stylized project like this, I can see why it is having difficulty finding an audience.

As the title suggests, this is loosely about time travel and the requisite paradoxes that come with such stories, but it is also about altered states of reality and perception. Judet-Weinshel uses the 'Memento' style of temporal discord with rapid jumps between points in time to keep the audience off balance, but then he layers on top of it a mix of surrealistic dialogue just to invoke a sense of the ambiguous psychosis that the protagonist is feeling. Then he throws in a mix of realist vs. fantastical style elements to deepen the complexity of the presentation.

At first I didn't understand the purpose of the fantastical technology elements ( e.g., the flying machine), then I realized that each character was associated with a different artistic stylization. Weird. I've never seen that before -- usually different stylizations are used to depict different places or sometimes different states of mind (e.g., dream sequences), but to pin a variety of styles to each of the characters is really original. This was a difficult project to choose to introduce such a new method, but most of the audience is going to be lost anyway so why not?

Great job, Gabriel! Ambitious and groundbreaking. Maybe in a decade or so the innovation in this project will be more appreciated.

Triggers: Violence - weapons, homicide by the protagonist Strobe effects Drug use