Why this film is a masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2013)

One of the exhilarating feels as a film fan, is knowing when you've seen a modern classic. A film that breaks a threshold to the next level. About Time is one of those films.
What makes the film great is this. With the history of time travel films, I expected things to go "wrong" for Tim halfway through the film. Where time travelling would change his future and this abuse of power would cost him his life with Mary, leading him to change the past more and change it back. At a certain point of the film after changing the past for his sister, I was convinced he'd walk in the door to find himself married to his blond "first love" Charlotte in oh-no fashion. But this never happens. The effect of time travel never spins out of control for Tim and in fact much of his life proceeds as if he hardly needed it. Time travel helps Tim fall in love with Mary, but he met her originally and set up a date without it. Marriage, the birth of children and death proceeds as they would have. His sister's life falls apart and her brother helps puts her back together with persuasion and not time travel. Tim's professional life appears to be perfectly normal and unaffected by his powers.
So what's Richard Curtis doing? Why make a time travel film to tell a story that could survive without it and where it never enacts a price on its user? Because this is the point. The great parts of Tim's life - falling in love, children, family and enjoying day to day, aren't because of his time travel. He succeeds by using his powers to live an ordinary life and the great parts that come with it. By the end he doesn't even use it anymore. Tim's journey, real life and the people in it is what makes it extraordinary, not travelling in time.
The title of the film "About Time" is perfect. Before seeing the film it sounds as if that's referring to time travel, but in reality it's about the passage of time. From the start of Tim's journey to the end. It's really About Life. Tim's life and journey and the humanity of it represents all of ours. Like much great fantasy films or television, it uses a fantastical concept to show us real things about ourselves.
As if this wasn't enough, About Time is a superbly made film. With this and Love, Actually (I haven't seen Pirate Radio) Richard Curtis proves he is as talented a director as writer. The film is beautifully shot, both filming its characters and its setting to great effect. The dialogue and performances are exceptional and on point, making incredibly lovable characters. It exudes warmth. "About Time" is a film is a terrifically crafted and directed film in a way less likely to get credit compared to a "Gravity" or "12 Years A Slave". The 32% of critics on rottentomatoes.com that graded this a sub-par film, frankly have lost the plot of how to judge filmmaking. They are simply wrong.
"About Time" is a near perfect film for its genre, following in the footsteps of Love, Actually 10 years ago. It's a modern classic and one of the best films of the last 5 or 10 years.