Thursday Movie Picks: Time Loops

 

For the third week of 2022 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the subject of time loops where characters are re-living the same day or same moment as it is either played for laughs or in something serious. Here are my three picks:

1. La Jetee

Chris Marker’s experimental short film that features mainly still photos is about a man in post-World War III being used in a time travel experiment where he relives a certain day in his life as he meets and falls for a beautiful woman while seeing someone die in the process. He goes through this moment every time as it adds to the suspense and intrigue as it is a film that would inspire a lot of time loop films with Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys being this expanded remake of Marker’s film.

2. Source Code

Duncan Jones’ sci-fi film revolves around a soldier who takes part in an experiment where he has to relive every moment of a bombing in a train as he falls for a woman who would die from that bombing. There, he has to find out who is the bomber for the authorities to find this person before another bombing arrives as it is a flawed film but it has a great ensemble cast in Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright.

3. The Final Girls

A horror comedy that revolves around a young woman and her friends finding themselves in a 80s slasher movie following a fire at a revival screening is an inventive take on the slasher films but also play up its clichés. Starring Taissa Farmiga as this young woman whose mother was the star of this slasher movie is an inventive one that also play into the idea of the final girl who often survive the slasher film. Farmiga and her friends spend much of their time reliving the same movie over and over again as they do whatever they can to survive but also play against the rules as it is a well-made and inventive film.

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