2021, d. Daniel Bernal - AmazonPrime
How did the Loop Begin?
Well, they live at Sito's parent's apartment, so if they wanted to quarrel with some privacy then the elevator was probably the better choice.
What was the main character's first reaction to the Loop?
[Kent] Definite confusion. Sito makes a joke about sleeping with Ana's best friend and gets slapped for it. Then the elevator hits 0, he gets a jolt and they're back on 10. It takes a number of loops before he's confident he understands what's happening and he references "That movie" to Ana, who doesn't understand what he's talking about. It's not the movie you're thinking of. They don't even mention Groundhog Day here. Instead it's "Caught/Trapped In An Elevator" (the subtitles do both) he's talking about, a movie from the 1980's that was always on TV about a hitman hired to kill a woman but they get stuck in an elevator and Time Loop. I have no idea if this is a real film or not. I could find no mention of it after doing search after search for a solid hour. I suspect it's just something they used for the film to get away from talking about Groundhog Day (a movie which may not have any real international appeal since Groundhog Day isn't a thing outside North America)
[Toast] Agreed. I don't think its a real movie, but it sounds so familiar. The whole assassin-in-the-elevator thing rung such a bell, I could almost see the actor playing the role in my mind's eye. But given this is a Spanish movie, we are being rather NA-centric assuming he is referencing a Hollywood flick, or even a Spanish movie that broke barriers and reached us, or at least Wikipedia.
Though Groundhog Day (the day) is not a thing outside of North America, I would assume that Groundhog Day (the movie) is widely known. Its been around long enough to get wide exposure and is the epitome of Time Loop movies, so I am sure at least scifi buffs know it.
I like how he keeps on playing with the loop, given it is soooo fucking fast. And each time he is shocked by her slapping him. Also, did she change up hands on a few loops, cuz he definitely holds the wrong cheek a few times.
WHY did the main character get put into the Loop? Can someone else be brought into the Loop?
[Kent] Someone else can DEFINITELY be brought into the Loop as eventually after a few quick Loops Sitio thinks to stop the elevator in order to have a longer chat with Ana. At one point out of frustration, Ana winds up pressing the 0 button at time of reset and she gets zapped into the Loop instead. Eventually they both wind up pressing it at the same time and get stuck in the Loop together. What's interesting is that when Ana zaps into the Loop, Sito completely resets, unaware that he was looping before.
Now... WHY? Well, it's got everything to do with a secret control booth and a scientist who turned the elevator shaft into a time machine. Yep, that's what happened.
[Toast] I love that Sito didn't get brought into her loop. So her loop reset his loop until they simultaneously get zapped and a third series of loops in which she gets to bring hers from the second series, and he gets to retain all forthgoing. I think we have a new trope that can be mined here. Imagine a group of people each adding in another person, occasionally losing someone, but eventually all working together to solve the Mystery of the Time Loop!
How long is this time Loop? What resets it? Can you force the reset?
[Kent] The Loop is however long the journey from floor 10 to the ground floor takes. According the the recording from the scientist (when Ana and Sito accidentally stumble upon the control booth trough a pretty absurd scenario, they find his cassette recordings and listen to approximately 40 seconds total across 3 tapes which is even more absurd), he mentions the trip is 21 seconds long. However if the elevator is stopped before it hits ground floor, the Loop can last indefinitely...although you definitely age within the loop and upon reset you return to your younger body.
The Loop can ONLY be reset by getting to floor 0. The scientist guy never escaped the Loop and eventually died...likely due to starvation or dehydration.
[Toast] This whole scientist creating a weird bits-and-bobs time machine is just weird to me. It's very Star Trek:tNG hand-wavey scifi mumbo jumbo. I am never entrely sure what happened to his wife -- she left? she died? And if he was trapped inside the elevator (and shaft, and control room) how was that going to help get his wife back? I guess he died before he perfected what he actually wanted to do? Also, if he designed the whole loop to require two people to break, but he was only one person, WHY ? Dude, just reverse-engineer your OWN MACHINE and make a fail safe.
[Kent] Ha! Yeah...just...yeah.
How long does the main character stay in the Loop? Does it have any affect on them, their personality, their outlook?
[Kent] At one point they seem to imply that they've been in the Loop a very long time, but it really only seems like a few hours total...like, not even a day. To answer an earlier question, the purpose of them being stuck in a loop is to work on their relationship, to communicate and understand each other's position. At a certain point early on, at first when Sito is in the Loop alone, Ana suggests they break up, and then vice versa, when Ana is in the loop Sitio makes the suggestion, so clearly there's stuff to work on. They seem to work through it and Sito seems to grow up a little and Ana seems to ...hrm...I guess lay off Sito a little. I dunno. She doesn't seem to be in the wrong, after all it's Sito who stole "their"(her) savings and gambled it away. They're living with Sito's parents in an apartment, which sucks (and his parents are super racist about Mexicans apparently). Are we supposed to think that Ana's old news about having slept with her ex one month into their relationship is somehow comparable to 5 years of Sito's lying, laziness and money mismanagement?
[Toast] I like how quickly she not only figures out the Time Loop aspect, even without getting Sito to mansplain to her via his recollection of the 80s movie (she obviously recalls it as well) but she also very quickly learns how to make use of it, getting out of him the information she wants. Its deceptive, but obviously, he has spent a good part of their relationship being deceptive, so she is due some.
Does he grow? Once given the motivation that he will truly lose her, he seems to. He is a classic gambling addict, in that he sees nothing wrong with what he is doing, even when he loses the entirety of her savings... 6000 Euros (which supports my idea this is Spain) is a LOT of money.
The comparison against her transgression (she cheated early on in their relationship) against his (this is probably only the latest time he lost a bunch of their/HER money) is not comparable. While the movie seems to want us to believe sexual indiscretion means more than money (one could agree with that) it's more the circumstances. He repeatedly breaks her trust, obviously freeloads off her and his parents, while she had a brief dalliance (that word does forgive much, doesn't it) just after they started their relationship while she was away for THREE MONTHS -- I dunno, if you start dating someone and then go away for three months, I am sure that gains you some lenience. In case you haven't guessed, I am on her side.
[Kent] Me too. Two "Team Ana" T-shirts please. Or maybe "Team Ana" infinity loop scarves?
If you're dating someone for a month then you go away for three months, are you really even dating anymore at that point? Unless they were already at the "I love you" stage, one month in ...I dunno. Not really that big a deal 5 years later unless you're really petty and insecure.... like most guys....
What about the other people in the Loop? Are they aware? Can they become aware? Does anything happen if they become aware?
[Kent] This is our first loop where there are no bystanders. This film only has three performers (the third being the voice of the scientist on the tape) an no extras. It's all Sito and Ana. But yeah, if somehow someone else came into the Loop, they could press the "0" button and join and/or take over the Loop.
[Toast] Yup.
What does the main character think about the other people in the Loop? Are they real? Do they matter?
[Kent] This is like writing "N/A" on a questionnaire.
[Toast] Yup.
Most memorable event in a Loop? Most surprising event during a Loop?
[Kent] At one point Sitio leaves the elevator through the top hatch. He slips and falls and his arm is severed off in the process. It's utterly ridiculous. I don't get how it happened. He even points it out and I still don't understand. Ana has to press the "0" button with his severed arm in order to reset the Loop...after which they just hug for a full Loop, which was kind of sweet.
[Toast] It was the cockroaches. They have been affected by the space-time energies in the elevator shaft and he was attacked by them. They don't want the time loop to break until they have figured out how to control their own destinies. There are a bunch of loops, which we don't see, where its them experimenting so as to make him fall at the exact angle to slice off his arm.
The prequel will be entirely from the POV of the cockroaches.
[Kent] I'm in for this.
How does this stack up in the subgenre?
[Kent] This movie has both a Time Loop AND a hatch, two of my favourite things, and, somehow it's not great. This falls in the "Technological Time Loop" category, and the technology is pretty bullshit... as is the solution for getting out of the Loop. That the scientist, trapped in an elevator shaft still managed to make a perpetual motion machine...you know, something that's NEVER been done in the history of ever... which is able to create or harness the power of time and something something. It falls apart as a movie when it stops focusing on the character drama and looks at the "science" instead. It's thankfully only 71 minutes long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and the performers playing Ana and Sito are pretty enjoyable. I liked the way in which the director kept the confines of the elevator and the Loops visually interesting (circling the outside of the box, or changing perspectives from within the box), but at the same time, the visual language isn't always on point, and at times confuses what is actually happening. The music is great, though, very Hitchcock-ian, and I particularly like the opening credits, both the music and the style of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment