Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes Movie Review

Written by Joanna K. Neilson

Released by Third Window Films

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Directed by Junta Yamaguchi
Written by Makoto Ueda
2021, 70 minutes, Not Yet Rated
Frightfest UK Premiere on 27th August 2021

Starring:
Aki Asakura as Megumi
Riko Fujitani
Gôta Ishida
Yoshifumi Sakai as Ozawa
Kazunari Tosa as Kato

Review:

When a grumpy cafe owner is randomly greeted by his future-self on a computer monitor, things quickly get out of hand. But, really, how much chaos can knowledge of events just two-minutes-from-now possibly create? Well, when his dodgy gang of friends join in the fun, pushing the limits of what his direct-line to the future can actually do, things really start to get interesting.

beyond the infinite two minutes 01 beyond the infinite two minutes 02

As events stacked up from the future ripple their demands into the past and present, the characters struggle to figure out how to best exploit their future knowledge. But they soon wonder if it’s healthy to know what happens next. Does it spoil and enslave your every move? How do you even opt out once you’ve started to see how things end?

And will the cafe wonder ever get a date with that nice lady next door?

beyond the infinite two minutes 03 beyond the infinite two minutes 04

But it would honestly be a shame to spoil any more about it. While there’s a growing list of ‘help! We’re stuck in a time loop!’ movies out there, this micro-budgeted beauty certainly deserves some attention. Inevitably repetitive in places, especially as the hapless gang figures out how to use the window into the future, it never quite loses its brain-straining ideas or its frenetic pace. Similar to the excellent One Cut of the Dead, this successfully stretches one crazy idea out to its absolute limit.

beyond the infinite two minutes 05

Still, time-based movies are usually very hard to get right - and if you’re wondering how this guy has access to the future, well, he’s equally baffled! But this fun slice of indie-sci-fi approaches the inevitable paradoxes with just the right amount of silliness. Often overly-dramatic, but keeping the timey-wimey (sorry) rules firmly in place, this is a truly endearing movie, and wisely keeps all of its highbrow sci-fi ideas at a very human level.

The basic concept might not be that new anymore, but it plays out with panache, and the technical ability needed to pull this off is really impressive. If you have just over an hour free, why not give this a go? Your future self will definitely thank you.

Grades:

Movie: 4 Star Rating Cover

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