Everything unfolds right before your eyes. The film is at its most thrilling when the scenes overlap, and you see the same situation from two different perspectives. It must have been an enormous undertaking to plan this out to such a meticulous degree, and points have to go to Figgis for pulling it all off so well. Not only is Time Code a visual spectacle, but it's a dead-on satire of the 'decadent Los Angeles lifestyle', where everyone is either trying to be an actor or sleeping with someone who already is. There's a minor earthquake every ten minutes, but no one ever seems even remotely alarmed.
People get out from under their desks or pick themselves up, and it's business as usual.
Figgis beats LA cliches into the ground the same way Robert Altman did with Parisian cliches in Pret A Porter, but it's done here in such a dry and overly deliberate manner that it's hysterical. The film has its flaws, but they are way overshadowed by the shear audacity inherent to this type of experimentation. The acting seems awkward and forced at times, but the audio does an amazing job of covering up certain scenes when they get stale. Figgis also helped compose the music, which mixes sleek saxophones with quirky electronics. Even if you are put off by the concept of no editing and improvisation, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Salma Hayek have an elaborate make-out scene.