About Time

Okay, look. I know. It’s been almost a month since my website has been active and I haven’t made a blog post yet. Well, I’ve had so much trouble trying to figure out what my first post should be. I thought maybe I should do one of my favorites like Percy Jackson or Arcane. Or maybe something newer like Deadpool and Wolverine, or the new Beetlejuice. Or even one of my favorite Greek Myths. But nothing felt right. I’ve been beating myself up and stressed over picking something that really MEANS something to me, and hopefully you too. On that note, I recently had the privilege to watch one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. And I know, this isn’t a very “nerdy” movie or really fantasy or sci-fi at all. But, this movie has such a beautiful and deep message in it, that I think everyone should watch it at least once. So here it is, this might be a long one so buckle up. 

So, I was watching Tiktok, as one does, and I saw someone mention this movie and how it was so sad and it made them cry for hours. And me being myself, I was interested. I was like “I like sad movies and I have nothing else to do so why not.” (I know I’m weird, it’s fine. I like crying over sad movies, it’s my little quirk I guess haha). I didn’t even watch the trailer or anything. I just rented it and I saw the description that said “A time-traveler meets the woman of his dreams.” And I got a little worried to be honest. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. Time travel is a very hard genre to write. It can get complicated very easily and very quickly. I mean the “Back to the Future” trilogy does it very well considering it was the 80s, but I’m sure you can also find plot holes in those movies too. Time travel makes it very easy to accidentally create lots of plot holes. But the way “About Time” goes about it; I thought it was actually really well made and well thought-out.

Okay, my immediate first impressions: “Is that the guy from Harry Potter?” (Yes, yes it is. Domhnall Gleeson, he played Bill Weasley. Apparently he was also in Star Wars?.. idk.) Also, I thought the opening music was very peaceful and nice. I liked how he opened the movie by introducing him and his family in a somewhat silly way. It can be an overused way to open a movie but it wasn’t bad. I love Kit Kat (Katie), and I love the MC’s relationship with her so much. Just from the music that they play at the “dreaded new year’s eve party” you can tell this movie was made in 2013. And obviously somewhere in the UK. My guess would be England near the ocean (Learned it was Cornwall later), he goes to London later on. Obviously Tim (the mc) is very socially awkward. He doesn’t kiss the girl at midnight, instead shakes her hand (second hand embarrassment jesus christ). 

“And the secret is that the men in the family can… travel in time.” I would think it’s a joke too, so I don’t blame you Tim. They make it clear that they can only travel back in time, not going into the future. And that they can only travel within their lifetime; where they have been and what they can remember, etc. So he goes and stands in the cupboard and he ends up back at the new year’s eve party. And he kisses the girl at midnight this time (thank god). Okay, they do mention the Butterfly Effect. And the dad says something like well we haven’t messed up civilization yet. Oh, that’s nice. No pressure Tim. His dad tells him not to go after money too, which is good. But Tim wants a girlfriend.

“Margot Robbie?? What are you doing here?” Tim tries to get close to Charlotte but it doesn’t go well. So Tim ends up living that summer twice, I think. So.. how old is Tim? And how does time travel affect his aging? They don’t answer that, so who knows. Plot hole? Not really important, but kind of interesting.

Timmy goes to London. “Harry looks familiar too… Tom Hollander. Jesus okay.” Now looking at his movies I recognized him from Bird Box. He is good at playing weird characters. This restaurant that they go to. It is an interesting concept.. To say the least. That could definitely lead to some freaky things going on there, in the dark. I mean it is such a cute idea and an adorable way to meet someone but… yeah.  Anyway, this is where the main couple meets, well, the first time. Right off the bat Mary and Tim have amazing chemistry. Also, “Rachel McAdams?? Notebook girl?” This cast is confusing as hell and amazing at the same time. Also she looks so adorable in this movie, I love her. Tim and Mary are so cute and equally as awkward and you can tell from the scene when they see each other’s faces for the first time, that they are already obsessed with each other. But Tim did not use his brain. He helped Harry fix his play so he went back in time to help. And undoes the fact that he met the love of his life that same night. It’s a nice thing to do but also, come on Tim. So he has to meet Mary all over again. And long story short, he ends up stealing her from her boyfriend by going back to the night they met and making them, well, not meet. Which is actually crazy but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess. Their second first date, well the REAL first date, goes really good. They learn more about each other, they laugh, they flirt, they kiss, and spend the night together (I think you know what I mean). The intimacy scene is actually pretty funny the way they wrote it and also kinda crazy considering that was their first date and first time meeting. I love them together so much. Mary is just as silly and awkward as Tim. She’s just confident enough to give Tim an extra push if he needs it, but also has this soft and innocent nature to her. Also, the train station scene is so cute, probably one of my favorites.

I love how Tim ends up being (for lack of a better word) tempted by Charlotte while he’s dating Mary. But instead of giving in he goes straight back to Mary and proposes to her on the spot. It shows good character and maturity on his part. The scene between Tim and his dad playing ping-pong is so important later on but I had no idea the first time I watched it. 

They announced the wedding and the pregnancy. He has no clue the changes that are coming with a baby. The fact that he can’t go back in time before the baby is born makes a lot of sense. I mean you go back and change anything, you get a different kid. And the decision he has to make between the car crash where Kit Kat almost dies and his 1 year old daughter, how can you possibly decide? Tim has to make a lot of decisions in this movie. Kat also has some hard decisions to make too. I feel like a lot of us can say we were in a somewhat similar situation that she was in. I’m glad her story ended well is all I’ll say.

After baby Posy is born Tim has the fatherhood existential crisis (pretty sure that’s normal). But I wanted to point out a quote that he said when his child was born;

“Suddenly, time travel seems almost unnecessary, because every detail of life is so delightful.”

That quote by itself is already extremely poetic, but definitely sets the stage for the rest of the movie. It goes from happy to sad pretty quickly. The car crash scene hurts my soul so deeply. I’m just gonna say. Do NOT drink and drive. And do NOT stay in the kind of relationship that causes you that much pain. Don’t get me wrong, there’s good and bad in every single relationship, everyone fights, everyone has different opinions, and everyone has bad days. But in the end you need to have a good balance with your partner, not just personality wise but also emotionally. Jay and Kat ending up together works really well actually. It just takes some mistakes and some bad decisions to get to the good and happy things. Life is all about learning, right? You really do learn new things everyday, which is as it should be. One of the life lessons I was taught was; “Always cut all the negativity out of your life.” Thinking about that now, negativity is bad, generally. But sometimes you need bad stuff too, you need the mistakes you make in life. Or else how do you learn and not make them again? So, what do you cut out and what do you keep? I guess if you could time travel you could essentially make your life perfect and never make any mistakes because you can just go back and fix it. But what’s the cost of perfection? I feel like if your life was perfect, it would be kind of boring and sad and maybe even lonely. And then what’s even the point?

Tim’s dad was diagnosed with cancer. I’m assuming it’s lung cancer, because he says he thinks it was from smoking for all those years. But he can’t go back and fix it or he would lose Tim and Kat. During this conversation, his dad tells him “the secret formula for happiness”. Basically the secret formula for happiness is that you go through your day normally, with all the worries and stress that it throws at you. But then, you time travel back and go through the same day almost exactly the same except this time noticing. I really, really liked how he used the word “noticing”. When you get caught up in the stressful and bad things you tend to forget to notice the good and even small things. And it’s extremely easy to get caught up in the bad. And when you’re distracted by all the bad, you don’t see the good very much or even at all. The bad usually takes up all your attention and time, that there’s no more room for the good. But if you live every single day twice, you have more time to notice.

So, Tim’s dad passed away. But he has the ability to go back and visit him as much as he wants, right? Except Mary wants another baby now. So good old Timmy has yet another really tough decision to make. But he said yes. Fast forward 9 months and this is his very last chance to see his dad. And he chooses that infamous ping-pong match. Tim asks him if there’s anything left that he wants to do, before saying goodbye. (my second time watching it, I learned his dad’s name is James) James and Tim go back to when he was a kid even though it was “completely against the rules, of course”, he said if they don’t change a thing then there shouldn’t be any consequences. They go back to skipping rocks on the beach just the two of them. Once he’s back to the present day, life goes on.

“And in the end, I think I’ve learned the final lesson from my travels in time. And I’ve even gone one step further than my father did. The truth is, I now don’t travel back at all. Not even for the day. I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”

We are all just simple beings on a rock floating in space. But even if we are simple, we make everything extremely complicated. But why? It’s true that life will always have hard things that it throws at you; depression, loss, bad days, anger, and especially death. Bad days are inevitable. But all we can do is our best. It’s so important to actually live the good moments. So put that phone down and hug your loved ones. Emails can wait, life can’t. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had a rough couple weeks or even a few years. This time of the year is hard for a lot of people; no more sunshine, holiday season, school starting, the cold, or anything really. A lot of people struggle with seasonal depression, or even all-the-time depression. It’s really hard to get out of your own head sometimes. Stop and breathe it all in every once in a while. Watch the sunset, smell the flowers, laugh with your friends, appreciate what you have while you still have it, because you never know when you could lose it. I guess the deeper message this movie has that I keep mentioning is that you have to live life to the fullest. It’s really cheesy, I know. But it’s true. As dark as it sounds you don’t know for sure you’re going to make it to tomorrow. It’s a sad truth. So notice the small and the good things. Live in the moment, because this is the only life you get. I love you guys, stay safe and have fun.