Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

Japanese low budget cinema at its best! Normally, low budget American films are absolute trash with few exceptions, but Japanese ones are invariably charming and imaginative and this one's no exception. It's a quirky time travel comedy set in a cafe, where an unusual link to the future spells disaster. Extremely lovable characters, a natural humour throughout and an anything-goes feel make this a thoroughly entertaining little movie.

Don't let the rating fool you, this is not a hidden gem, BUT it is decent no-budget film making with a fairly unique concept, and with a better script, could have ecome a cult classic.

Solid concept, okay execution, fun characters, but repetitive and ruined by an ending that blows apart continuity. This movie should have had a much different ending, it had it's problems for sure, like why do the monitors have such long cords? How convenient! But that's not really a plot hole. Also, if you know anything about time travel theories, even from the beginning, this one has huge problems, but they could have been remedied with a solid ending, instead the ending literally makes it worse and throws it's own internal logic out the window. Up until the last 10 minutes I could buy into the premise, but wow, did it just become incredibly stupid in the last 10 minutes, and not in a good way.

Still, if you are used to Japanese or Korean cinema, this is pretty typical fair acting-wise for a comedy, ultra goofy. I liked the characters, I thought that they were fun, and well-developed for an ensemble movie based on a high concept. It definitely plays the concept for laughs, but it actually gets pretty serious at some points, it has some deeper themes about destiny and predetermination, but again, it generally chucks those out the window by the end. It really does become a somewhat disappointing mess by the end, I still enjoyed it, but its sad because it could have been a hell of a lot better. I think for the most part they did a good job with a pretty tricky concept, other than the last 10 minutes. I would love to see this remade with a better script and a much different ending, this could be great, but instead, it is just barely above average.

A strange tale of time travel that doesn't try to be serious or explain the implausible science others usually do. The comedy is really well done and the story very character driven. It reminds me much of Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers, which is another strange comedy from Japan. I like how here we are clueless along with the characters so we explore the situation along with them. While there is much that doesn't work or is just wrong from a "realism" standpoint but its not meant to be real. Just enjoy being swept along with the situation, finding answers and not finding answers as whatever happens just happens. Its just plain fun so sit back and enjoy the lack of stereotypical characters and events, maybe with a drink of hot chocolate.

Director did an excellent job filming how time travel would look like if we can peel into the future 2min intervals. Sequence started off very simple, and gradually added layers and increased complexity, filming everything very smartly. Worth your time if you're interesting in sci-fi and time travel.

'Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020)' is an incredibly impressive low-budget science-fiction film about a group of friends who discover that a television and a computer monitor are linked via some sort of temporal anomaly. The monitor displays what the TV will see in two minutes, while the TV displays what the monitor has already seen two minutes ago. The film is, in essence, an examination of the age-old question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? The characters see what they're going to do, yet arguably only do it because they know they must. To them, the future has already happened; they seem to exist on a predestined timeline. The feature often follows its characters as they travel between the TV and the monitor, too. Because of this, the future becomes the past which becomes the present which becomes the past again. As you can see, the central concept is an extremely clever and heady one, and it gets even more complex as the piece progresses (in ways which I won't spoil here). Thankfully, the flick never trips over itself and also remains relatively easy to parse for its entire duration. It's intelligent, but not pretentious. It's all in good fun, too, and only carries the slightest hint of thematic potency. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that it plays out in what appears to be a single seamless take. Judging by the behind-the-scenes footage that plays during the credits (which also reveals that large portions of the picture were shot using a mobile phone), it appears the picture makes use of hidden cuts to achieve this. Nevertheless, it's still really spectacular and certainly must've taken a lot of planning to pull off. The piece is pretty much a choreographed dance in which the players have to interact with pre-recorded versions of themselves, recreating and reacting to the footage that plays out on the two screens that comprise the central temporal link. It's as enjoyable as it is admirable. The flick moves at a solid pace and doesn't feel as though it either outstays its welcome or artificially pads its length. It's entertaining pretty much from the first frame to the last. Despite all of its genuine brilliance, though, the thing is only ever so engaging or enjoyable. That's not to imply that it isn't engaging or enjoyable at all, rather that it only ever reaches a certain level of engagement or enjoyment. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't quite push past the promise of its solid opening movement or go above and beyond when it comes to how compelling it is. It's an odd complaint, I'll admit, and I'm not even sure if I'm conveying it correctly. Basically, I'm now trying to justify my entirely subjective and arguably redundant review score. The movie is technically triumphant, narratively complex and generally entertaining, but it only moves me to the point I feel as though I can rate it 7/10.