Tempus Fugit (2003)

Directed by: Enric Folch | 113 minutes | comedy, romance, science fiction | Actors: Xavi Mira, Neus Asensi, Xavier Bertran, William Miller, Irene Montalà, Ferran Frauca

Time travel appeals to the imagination. Its possibilities would be enormous, while for us as yet it is an impossibility. It’s always interesting to see how directors and scriptwriters deal with this topic. For example, do they assume that a small action can change a lot or are characters allowed to indulge in the past and future? In ‘Tempus Fugit’ it is the time traveler from the future (Andros, played by William Miller) who indulges himself in a limited way: in his own time the food has no taste, so he prefers to sit in the cafe during this time. But for protagonist Ramon, small actions can have a big impact.

Director Enric Folch had a limited budget for ‘Tempus Fugit’, so it didn’t become a complicated time machine with extensive orb. In ‘Tempus Fugit’ people travel in time with pills, which bear the appropriate brand name of the title. It’s a nice solution, but a bit confusing. After all, in this day and age we are used to the fact that with pills you can only change your own body and not the world around you. Traveling with pills is immediately reminiscent of tripping, of a changed reality because you experience it differently yourself. Anyway, these pills come from a tall, blond man with a hat from the distant future, and in that future time travel is an accepted but strictly regulated activity.

Folch thought the spectacle film ‘The Time Machine’ (2002) was a horrible misfire and wanted to make something completely different. He succeeded. The simple way to travel in time also causes other characters to take advantage of it, which causes all kinds of complications. Yet it remains a simple film. Most of it takes place around a small square in Barcelona and the number of (important) characters is very small, making it all very clear. However, due to time travel there are double persons: the I in the past or the future and the I who has traveled through time. The problem of those double characters is solved by one of them traveling back to his own time, but that does not seem a logical solution and this is not worked out well for each of the time travelers.

Putting those little intricacies aside, ‘Tempus Fugit’ is a fun, uncomplicated and charming film. Although you don’t get to know much about Ramon (Xavi Mira), he still comes across as a sweetheart, which you really hope he gets the girl for. The fact that he makes clocks alone is well thought of. Even the antagonist Ramon’s neighbor Terrades (Xavier Bertrán)- is sympathetic. He’s such a huge football fan that he’s almost risking the world to help his own club. For the Dutchman, the funny details are that Terrades bows with his doppelganger before a photo of Cruijf and that he has named his dog Koeman.

At the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, the audience liked this film more than ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004). Justly? Go see ‘Tempus Fugit’ and judge for yourself.