Things Will Be Different

Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) meet up at a diner. They are both armed and carrying a bag of money. They go to a pre-selected farm house. There is a specific procedure of changing the clocks, opening a door, and dialing a phone in the dark. They arrive back to the house which is fully stocked. Their plan is to stay there for two weeks and wait out the cops.

This is a low-budget high-concept sci-fi crime drama. I like the general premise and the curious door procedure to start the story. The problem is that it doesn't entice the audience to invest in these two characters. These are not famous faces and they don't have any exposition. Once things start going wrong, the rules are not clear. Nothing is that clear in this movie. The reveal is the reveal. I expected something like it. It's fine. The overall execution is a bit lacking.

The basic premise of TWBD is that two siblings, Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy), are robbers on the run from the law. They proceed through the woods to a farmhouse. They enter the house and by following some instructions in a notebook, they are able to exit through a closet door and reemerge, as it were, in a different time (but same farmhouse) to wait out the police for fourteen days.

So far, so good. And the cinematography (by Carissa Dorson) makes the most of the rural location.

Of course, Joseph and Sidney end up getting stuck in the farmhouse. They discover that the location actually functions as the "property" of a mysterious guide who speaks to them through a tape-recorder and is willing to help get them back to the present if they complete a specific task: the elimination of a mysterious (third) intruder. It is only toward the end that we learn just how fraught that task actually is.

TWBD does its best work through visuals: not just the facial expressions of the two principal actors, but the flashbacks to childhood (blurred images of a parental figure at a piano); the various (presumably alcoholic) beverages and vintage glassware that are a constant feature of TWBD; the trees, fields, and hills of the rural Midwest; the strange photographs, paintings and tchotchkes of the absent prior owners; etc. A second viewing is almost required to make sense of the visual displays that kaleidoscope and change constantly.

That said, the film is not as friendly in linking the narrative together for the viewer. But the thread is there. And there is a discernible conclusion, which in my view has to do with "breaking" a cycle of decisions, and the sacrifice required to do that.

A lot of viewers appear turned off by the temporal twists and non-obvious narrative. However, I think you might like this feature if you like, for example, Flanagan's own debut ("Abstentia"), the films of Isaac Ezban or Moorhead & Benson's "Synchronic" or "The Endless." (Benson has a part near the end. It is easy to see why he agreed, given the subject matter. Well, that and the fact that he is one of the Executive Producers. :-) )

I will certainly be looking out for Michael Felker's next film. This was an impressive debut.

I give it 6 stars because although it kind of comes together in the end, the plot is very intriguing. It keeps you guessing and forming your opinions heavily throughout the film. It had a feel like the movie "The Endless" where the characters are stuck in this loop only it was a bit harder to understand. What the endless had that this movie doesn't have is an ending that sufficed although it couldn't really be explained. This movie had me staring at the screen for a minute after it went off still trying to figure out the hows and whys. I liked the acting very much. All in all it's a good movie with subpar explanations. In the end they tied it together but again with no clear explanation to how "the enemy" even got there or who that person was looking for.

The concept for Things Will Be Different (2024) sounded promising and definitely piqued my interest. Movies involving time travel can often be hit or miss, and unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. The two lead actors do a decent job portraying their characters, and the movie is beautifully shot with an impressive visual style. However, the story and pacing are where it falls short.

The film raises numerous questions but only loosely answers a few. It takes nearly an hour for anything significant to happen, and even then, the movie remains barely engaging. This concept might have worked better as a short film or with a faster-paced script featuring more tension-filled scenes and action. Instead, the execution is too slow-paced, making it feel much longer than it actually is. Slow-paced movies can work when they don't feel slow, but in this case, you feel every minute.

Ultimately, the concept promised much more than the final result could deliver, so I can't recommend this one. [4.4/10]

The movie's premise was quite good. The siblings hide in a temporal B&B to avoid the law. However, they soon discover that leaving is not as easy as they thought. They can communicate with the people responsible for time travel using a tape recorder locked in a safe. They are tasked with confronting an adversary who appears later in the story.

The execution, however, leaves much to be desired. I agree with other reviewers: the cinematography is excellent, the sound and music are above average, and the acting ranges from superb (the brother) to good but somewhat forced (the sister). The main drawback of the movie is its screenplay. While it has potential, there are super boring parts interspersed with a few sudden twists. Moreover, many elements are either left unexplained or explained in a lacklustre manner.

Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the movie. It would have benefitted from being 30 minutes shorter, featuring more realistic sibling dialogues, and providing better explanations for a few key elements, for example, delving deeper into the adversary's identity. Still, it was more than satisfactory for a low-budget flick.

P. S.

A few other movies gave me similar vibes, most notably Timecrimes (2007), The Field (2019), and The Endless (2017).