Delayed Reaction: Time

Premise: A woman reflects on her life over the years that her husband has been in prison as their sons have grown up without a father.

 

Until the last couple minutes, I didn't care for this movie. It's kind of a lyrical movie. A lot of it plays long clips of speeches the narrator and central figure, Fox Rich, gave at different points. She reflects on the state of her situation and of the world in general. She looks back on the hardships she faced working to get her husband out of prison; he was serving a 60-year sentence for armed robbery. I definitely came away from the movie thinking she is a very impressive woman. I loved the joy at the end when the husband finally gets out and feel her frustration before that. I can tell what the movie was trying to do. It's almost like visual poetry the way it hops around to different topics. It just plain didn't work for me.

 

This is one of those movies where I read reviews afterwards and wonder if they watched a different movie or read way more into it that what was actually in the movie. I see that it was praised for being a powerful critique of the criminal justice system. I mean, sure. She does put up with a lot of bureaucracy. At the same time, the husband did go to prison for a crime he committed. 60 years feels too long for that, but I mainly think it's too long when compared to other people who get off with less for greater crimes. That's not really the point the movie is trying to make though. That's just something I know in the back of my head independently of the movie. The argument the movie repeatedly makes is just that she'd like her husband to get out of prison before her children are adults, because kids need their father. I guess I'm heartless, because my response to that is "that's a weak legal argument". It doesn't really try to make a case for why the sentence was too long or how he was unfairly treated. It only gets as far as, "this situation sucks". Which...I agree.

 

I think this is one of those movies that either transfixes you or it doesn't. You can't talk a person into liking it more. I hate being on the outside looking in, seeing all the praise that's been thrown at the movie. I was simply never on the same wave length as it was. I hope other people see it and are deeply moved. I wasn't moved until the end, but that wasn't earned emotion. You could've shown me only the end and I'd've been moved. The first 80 minutes didn't build to that. It's just an objectively emotional ending.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend