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Okay, so with Timecode, self-styled Brit auteur Mike Figgis has certainly created something a little different. Ditching the ordinary cinematic format, Figgis takes a new direction: splitting the screen into quarters and showing four separate scenes in each, all of which come together into one intertwining story.
And to top it all off, every segment was shot in one, continuous take, the actors improvising all the dialogue around a pre-ordained structure.
Phew. Complicated stuff. But amongst the technical ingenuity there is a plot, albeit a weak one. Revolving around the offices of an LA film company, Timecode combines the tales of a cheating husband Skarsgård and his suspicious wife (Burrows), an arguing lesbian couple (Hayek and Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a quake-affected day in the life of the aforementioned company.
And it is the story where the film really falls down. Don’t worry if you think you won’t follow – you will. Much of the movie merely shows what characters do when they are 'off-camera', sitting around in limos, or wandering around having a cigarette.
This tedium may be all-important to Figgis, but that’s the genius of celluloid – you can cut out the boring bits. Similarly, some of the actors are not up to the admittedly tricky task of making up their own words. The film works best when focusing on the off-beat movie execs, but too often Figgis highlights (by augmenting the audio) the uninspired relationship stuff.
Obviously overly excited with his idea – and it's one that may well be more prevalent in the future – Figgis has neglected a fundamental rule of any kind of movie: an interesting story.
Better luck next time.
