Beyond the Infinte Two Minutes (ドロステのはてで僕ら)

[revlob]

We watched this last night on 4od. It's a Japanese sci-fi comedy about a cafe owner who discovers his TV can see two minutes into the future.

 

Films about time travel tend to be either highly inconsistent with their rules, or so dense as to be nearly impenetrable, but this charming short manages to be neither, taking its audience on a brisk journey of several classic time travel parables with Primer's strict logic but the comfort of Back to the Future. There's a frantic energy to the cast and the camera, an energy that really makes this feel like a passion project.

 

It's a technical marvel too, shot in the style of a single take, with some very clever use of the "Droste effect" that must have required intricate planning in order to shoot. During the credits you get a glimpse of the dynamic camerawork they needed to film in those cramped Japanese apartments.

 

If you like time travel movies, you owe it to yourself to give this a watch. It's only 68 minutes long, but it gave me a good few laughs. It's only on 4od for another couple of weeks from today.

[Nick R]

I caught this when it was shown on Film4 a few weeks ago. It's a lot of fun, in exactly the sort of ways I like about time travel/time loop stories. There were a few times when I imagined Steven Moffat watching it and thinking "why didn't I ever think of that?"

 

[HiggsBoson]

Thanks for posting about this. I have just watched and really enjoyed.

 

The time effects and implications were introduced in such a way to make it easy to follow, but thinking about how it must have been filmed was quite a puzzle.

 

10 days remaining to catch it on 4od.

[monkeydog]

Thanks @revlob.  Thought that was a fun watch.

 

I might have missed something but I wish they could have done a little more around 

 

Spoiler

the length of the cables!

 

It bugged me a bit that they reached all the way up the stairs.  It took me out of the scene a little.

[Uncle Mike]

I also went and found this based on the thread, and it was indeed an enjoyable time! Thanks for making the thread revlob.

[revlob]

51 minutes ago, monkeydog said:

Thanks @revlob.  Thought that was a fun watch.

 

I might have missed something but I wish they could have done a little more around 

 

  Hide contents

the length of the cables!

 

It bugged me a bit that they reached all the way up the stairs.  It took me out of the scene a little.

 

Yes! I thought the same thing. I assume the reason had something to do with the television's ability to see through time!

[Commander Jameson]

Thanks @revlob for this. This low-budget mind-bender style of film is right up my street. Loved it and does deserve repeat viewing.

[Professor Rob]

This was a delight - thanks for the heads-up.

[Benny]

This was brill! Has a strong One Cut of the Dead energy.

[Benny]

Also it's a very wholesome movie. I like wholesome movies.

[PK]

This is a great film, thanks very much for this thread @revlob, would've missed it otherwise.

 

Reminded me of Coherence crossed with One Cut of the Dead (two superb films as well if you haven't seen them)

 

Looks like it was quite the project to plan and film! Would love to see a behind the scenes documentary, the stuff in the credits looked fascinating and quite fun.

 

[squirtle]

Good call on this @revlob! Loved it and, as others have said, very reminiscent of One Cut of the Dead. Looked like a nightmare to film and plan, but very much worth it.

[jonamok]

Another +1 here. Very sweet and very cleverly made. I’ll even forgive it the world’s longest power cables.

[jonamok]

PSA: I think this gets deleted from 4OD (it certainly does from a Sky box if you’ve downloaded it) at 11pm on 15th August (Monday night).

So get it watched/rewatched while you can! 

[Benny]

It like three quid to buy on Prime if you do miss it too.

[JohnC]

This is ridiculous, in a good way 

[catinthehat]

This is back on channel 4 for another month, if anybody missed it last time around.  It's stupid and funny and ridiculous and I grinned all the way through.

[disperse and recoagulate]

On 19/12/2022 at 11:22, catinthehat said:

This is back on channel 4 for another month, if anybody missed it last time around.  It's stupid and funny and ridiculous and I grinned all the way through.

Thanks a lot for the heads up. Sounds great!

[merrychan]

This was absolutely brilliant, will happily watch again and again and again (no pun intended :D)

[James Lyon]

Does each loop last exactly two minutes or are they shortened or lengthened under poetic licence? Somebody get a stopwatch. I'll be very impressed if they are.

[merrychan]

19 minutes ago, James Lyon said:

Does each loop last exactly two minutes or are they shortened or lengthened under poetic licence? Somebody get a stopwatch. I'll be very impressed if they are.

To me it seemed super precise, there's some great credits scenes showing the filming process too...very impressive stuff