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<TITLE>Review for Timecode (2000)</TITLE>
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<H1 ALIGN="CENTER" CLASS="title"><A HREF="/Title?0220100">Timecode (2000)</A></H1><H3 ALIGN=CENTER>reviewed by<BR><A HREF="/ReviewsBy?Frankie+Paiva">Frankie Paiva</A></H3><HR WIDTH="40%" SIZE="4">
<PRE>Time Code</PRE>
<PRE>rated R
97 minutes
Screen Gems
starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgard, Saffron Burrows, 
and Kyle MacLachlan
written and directed by Mike Figgis</PRE>
<PRE>A Review by Frankie Paiva</PRE>
<P>I believe it's unfair to call Time Code an actual movie. The word experience 
is a better fit. The Time Code experience involves the screen being split 
into four different images, each with a different character focus, as they 
all play at the same time. The sound gets turned up on the one Figgis wants 
you to watch. One could describe it as watching four different shows on MTV 
all at once. The story relies heavily on this split screen factor and this is 
a very visual film with little complicated dialog. It has to be. Even with a 
slightly complicated plot, this movie would have been even more of a frenzy 
of annoying pointless images than it was. Essentially, a frenzy of annoying 
images describes the film well. This film is a foray into the different and 
the unusual, but carries little meaning. While Figgis has created a 
groundbreaking filmmaking approach, he seems concentrated on making sure the 
audience can handle it, rather than keep an interesting storyline going. It 
has been a long time since a movie has challenged you in such a way as this 
one does, but I felt it could have been even more challening if trust was put 
in the audience. Time Code dares to go freeform, and encourages the viewer to 
look at these characters and their surroundings with lightning fast 
comprehension before moving onto the next frame. Like any new method to come 
onto the film scene, it will take time to master, but consider Time Code the 
beginning of a new era in film.</P>
<P>The movie was shot entirely in one afternoon last November using hand-held 
cameras. There are no edits. Everything is real time. There is no set plot 
structure either. While Figgis gave his actors basic character outlines, he 
decided it would be much more interesting if the film was almost entirely 
improvisational. This is both an attraction and a detraction.  There are 
times when you sense the actors come up with things right off the top of 
their heads, and those parts of the film are exciting and fun. Character 
reactions are a key part of this movie that centers around Red Mullet 
Productions (both the producers and setting for this film) during auditions 
for a new movie. In the upper left corner Rose (Wild Wild West recovering 
Salma Hayek) is going to the audition with Lauren (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Rose 
and Lauren are lovers, and the latter suspects infidelity. In the upper 
right, Emma (Saffron Burrows, Figgis's wife) consults her psychiatrist about 
her husband Alex (Stellan Skarsgard) whom she suspects is cheating on her. 
Alex is indeed cheating on her, and he occupies the lower right frame. 
Finally, in the bottom left is an aspiring actress that comes to audition for 
the lead role at Red Mullet.</P>
<P>After this basic setup, the camera roams free. Characters pop up in two 
different frames at once, or switch frames entirely. It's interesting to see 
how this effect gets used. One scene that I found bizarre involved Alex and 
an anonymous female having sex behind a movie screen. The screen was being 
used to show actresses moaning loudly from sexual pleasure during an audition 
for a group of executives. Another common element that unites the characters 
is the frequent bothersome earthquakes. Much care must have been taken into 
the timing to make the illusion of an earthquake appear in all four parts at 
the same time. These tremors that connect the characters continuously 
reminded me of the character connecting amphibians from the end of Magnolia. 
The ensemble cast that includes Steven Weber, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, 
Leslie Mann, and Laurie Metcalf, as well as the actors mentioned above, have 
fun with their roles. It's no surprise though that the movie is inconsistent, 
but by the hour mark, I found myself comfortably able to grasp all that was 
going on. Time Code is almost interactive. It allows people to get a 
different experience of the movie each time they see it. The themes are the 
same though. Woe, jealousy, and betrayal all occupy different parts of the 
screen often. Everyone is cheating on everyone, and all the women are 
lesbians. Late in the film a young female independent filmmaker comes forward 
with an idea of new age filmmaking. "The end of editing is upon us!" she 
preaches. "Imagine a movie with four different images all running at the same 
time." Alex blows this idea off, and cannot control his laughter at the 
proposal. He tells her what a load of crap he thinks it is. She takes the 
criticism surprisingly well, and replies with a thank you stating he's the 
only honest person she has ever met in Los Angeles. By the time it reaches 
the conclusion, the facade of quality and honesty in Time Code is gone. It 
was then I realized the emptiness that ran through this movie. While Time 
Code is definitely worth seeing for the very original concept it presents, 
there's no hiding that little actual material lies under its surface.</P>
<PRE>B-</PRE>
<PRE>Frankie Paiva
<A HREF="mailto:SwpStke@aol.com">SwpStke@aol.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/moviereviews.html">http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/moviereviews.html</A></PRE>
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