ABOUT TIME (2013)

It’s a shame that the movie “About time” released in 2013 has not been very popular amongst movie lovers. Sadly, it is a very underrated and unappreciated movie which has a rating of ­7.8 on IMDB. It’s a story of an adult who just turned 21 who realized he has the power to turn back time. But only go back in his own past.

Many of us in our lives have thought about turning back time, fixing mistakes we wish we never made, thinking about doing something we might’ve never had the courage to when we had the chance, spending more time with the ones we love. The producer scripted the movie so wonderfully that it hits home.

The main character, Tim, is an average kid who has barely made it into the world of law. He left his home and is staying with his dad’s friend, Harry, who is a divorced theatre director in London. What I personally love about Harry’s character is that it depicts a spitting image of an artist; a low life, depressed and unappreciated human left in the struggles of his career. Tim’s life is dull and without the touch of a woman. One night with his best friend Jay, upon a blind date (and I mean literally) he thought he found the love of his life. Starry-eyed, he returns to tell Harry about the whole mesmerizing experience, upon which he finds Harry’s show didn’t go as planned.  He turns back time and that’s where things start to go south. Turning back his past and changing a small aspect of it also meant he had to give up something in return. And here, that something else meant the blind date didn’t happen. He fixed Harry’s show but the love of his life, Mary, had never met Tim.

Now at this point in the movie, you’d think, well there are tons of fish in the sea, but Tim had found the one. And quite frankly if we think someone’s “the one”, we’d turn back time to fix everything with them and never let go. So Tim does whatever he can to introduce himself to her, over and over, in the best way that he possibly can. And he finally did. After their love takes afloat he finds himself turning back time for the little of mistakes which you and I (let’s be honest) would. During his daughter’s birthday he comes to know that his sister got into a huge accident and if he goes back in time to change that, he could never have that daughter. He learns the hard way that he can’t fix everything and everyone’s life. After his second child, Tim is stricken with the truth that his father (whom he idolizes) has cancer. The father has portrayed in such a beautiful way that it makes you realize not every American movie shows low family values. The bond between Tim and his father is so strong that the father’s death breaks your heart. No matter how many times I’ve watched the movie, somehow I find myself skipping that part (but maybe it’s just me). After sometime Tim and Mary plan to have a third child. During that time Tim finds himself going back in time often to see his father. Just before Mary is going in labor he visits all the memories with his father for the last time.

 Tim then used time travel to live every day twice, one for seeing how good or bad the day goes, and one for enjoying the day like he meant it. And he realizes that he doesn’t need to go back in time just to make a day good. He could do that even without time travel. That idea makes me realize that maybe all the mistakes we’ve made are okay and maybe time travelling isn’t as marvellous as it seems if it has consequences that make changing our past worse. The movie not only shows the realities of life with a twist of time travel but comes to the conclusion that you can’t change everything and some things you have to live with, no matter what. The soundtrack puts you in a light mood. I’d definitely recommend About Time as a feel-good movie. 9.5/10.