TIMECRIMES (LOS CRONOCRIMENES) Alt_Cinema

This debut feature from acclaimed short-film maker Nacho Vigalondo is a diabolically intricate little machine. Free of the flashy digital effects that con overwhelm modern science fiction, it feels instead like a tout short story from a previous age . Once set in motion, this film ‘spins off in all manner of odd directions; a charged particle that flouts expectation with palpable glee. Hector (Karro Elejalde) is a fleshy Everyman whose lazy afternoon is complicated when he sees something odd through his binoculars . Starting from this utterly mundane setting, Vigolondo proceeds to pull the rug out from underneath his protagonist, his audience and then the space-time continuum itself. A bewildered Alice sucked down a wormhole, Hector’s focus swings from iced tea and chaise lounges to slightly bigger things, such as ensuring his entire existence doesn’t get erased . The exquisite tension of the plot is sustained by sharp editing and a lush orchestral score that proudly declares its debts to Bernard Herrmann’s work for Hitchcock . A thrilling feat of cinematic prestidigitation, TIMECRIMES reminds us just how short the distance is between regular life and utter weirdness. (Unless you’re a veteran time traveler, in which case it reminds you to get a dependable lock for your lab door).