What if every moment in life came with a second chance?

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2018)

Time Travel has always been an intriguing idea in cinema and literature. It was born out of human imagination no doubt and has been developed ever since. We used to see the idea of time travel mostly in sci-fi films but in "About Time", it is exclusively used as a side tool to reach happiness and to find love. "About Time" is a drama flavored romantic comedy that manages to put itself in a different place from the other films of the same genre because of its unique idea and 123 minutes of runtime. The film is using time travel to show us that we don't need time travel to live our lives to the limits. The main point of the film is not to travel in time but to teach us to live and enjoy our lives like it is our last day. We are very much used to this concept of love and happiness in Richard Curtis films. "About Time" is both written and directed by him. He made his directing debut with the highly recommended film "Love Actually" and with this film he has given clues about his directing and writing style and the ideas that are interesting to him. Up until this day, with his films -as a screenwriter or writer- like "Bridge Jones' Diary" or "Nothing Hill", he hasn't failed to follow this path. He was also nominated for Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
"About Time" tells the story of a boy at the age of 21 who discovers that, men in his family can travel in time. He takes this power and goes out to find a girlfriend and to seek for peace and happiness. Eventually, he manages to have everything he has ever dreamed of without using time travel. So, as I have mentioned above, the idea of the film is the possibility of happiness without time travel. The film is so much focused on delivering this message that it ignores the other critical facts. For example, time travel is possible under very certain rules and breaking those rules means breaking the story and its logical flow. For example, one may ask why only men get to time travel. It has nothing to do with sexual inequality but for the sake of the story's logical flow. Because if the women in the family could have traveled in time, the story would have failed completely. To keep it focused in the present day, you can't travel back in time before you were born. The components of making time travel possible are not very well thought and these bring the credibility of the film down. However, "About Time" is a romantic comedy and a feel-good film. Don't be too concerned about the logic of time travel because as I have mentioned before, this film is not about time travel but to show you how, even time travel is unnecessary to be happy. The director makes sure you get the message loud and clear by repeating it over and over which explains the length of the film.
"About Time" is character based. The chemistry between Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mary (Rachel McAdams) is so live and beautiful that you just want to get involved in their story. The same thing applies for the conversations between Tim and his father (Bill Nighy) as well. This kind of acting is what Richard Curtis heavily depends on to transmit his message to the audience. In this point of view his casting is successful. "About Time" is a two-part film. First part is funny and romantic, second part is dramatic and more serious. This is also another characteristic of the film that separates it from the others.
If we had a chance to go back and correct a mistake we have made, we would be living our lives in a completely different way. Having only one shot in most of the cases doesn't allow us to live our lives to the limits. This is a psychological fact and it is indirectly shared in the film under the transformation of Tim from an insecure boy to a confident problem solver. With its rich soundtracks from "The Cure" to "Amy Winehouse", I have enjoyed "About Time". It is going to make you feel good and recharged. Ask yourself the question of time travel. If you had such power what would you use it for? The answer you are going to give will reveal what you desire the most in your life. Time travel is an illusion and when you think about it, you don't need it because you have been there before. Just value each moment of your life and live it to its limits. This is one lesson "About Time" is going to teach you.