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Timecrimes
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Umbrella Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (17th May 2025). |
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The Film
 "Timecrimes" ("Los cronocrímenes") (2007) While relaxing in his backyard, Héctor (played by Karra Elejalde) spots with his binoculars a young woman (played by Bárbara Goenaga) in the forest stripping. He loses sight of her, so he goes to have a closer look, only to find she is fully unclothed and unconscious. He is suddenly stabbed with scissors in the arm by a person whose head is covered entirely with bandage cloth, and is chased into an enclosed science facility in which a scientist (played by Nacho Vigalondo) offers to help him hide. The hiding place turns out to be a prototype time machine, sending him back about an hour prior to the harrowing events. It is hard for him to grasp the reality, but decides he must do something to make sure the events do not repeat in order to save the girl and to save himself from the masked man, even though the scientist warns him that changing anything could significantly alter the course of reality. "Timecrimes" was the feature directorial debut by Nacho Vigalondo. His 2003 short film "7:35 in the Morning", a black and white musical piece was a critically acclaimed work that was nominated for an Academy Award, even surprising the filmmaker himself that it would get so much attention. For his feature film debut, he wrote a complex yet very contained script that would pay homage to science fiction and film noir in a unique way. It is complicated to discuss the film without charts and diagrams due to its structure being non-linear in chronology but linear only in the mind of the main character repeating the reality. Time travel stories usually have certain differing rules that must be placed. When a person travels back, does the person have a double existing in the same timeline? If that person goes back again, would there be three in the timeline? Can a time traveler make a diverging path by doing something different or is everything pre-ordained and impossible to change? "Timecrimes" does play with the rule of the singular timeline, with whatever Héctor does and the results of his decisions. In this way it might sound like there should be no surprises to be found, as there is no way for him to ultimately change the outcome of the events. There are some twists that audiences might see coming. But there are some genuinely clever points in the third half in which audiences might be cleverly surprised by. At first it seems like the story takes inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock with the voyeur aspect of the main character looking through binoculars from his home like "Rear Window". But with the stabbing in the forest and the running from the masked person looks closer to a slasher film like "Friday the 13th". The production also feels low budget and gritty, being shot on 16mm film and having an incredibly small cast of characters. There is Héctor, his wife Clara played by Candela Fernández, the girl in the forest, and the scientist, with no examples of more than two people sharing the screen at the same time (technically speaking). Except for the opening shots during the credits, the film takes place in a rural mountainous location, far from the city streets or nosy neighbors. To set up a time travel movie with a time machine on such limitations is reminiscent of "Primer", and while there are similarities, it is an entirely different experience altogether. It's probably no surprise when Héctor gets into the car accident and has to bandage his head that it is revealed both to him and the audience that he is actually the masked man in the forest, but then there are the questions of how and why the young woman strips in the forest and becomes unconscious. Due to the pacing, there is not a lot of time for audience to guess before the reveals. The events take place seemingly in real time as the camera almost always follows Héctor (eventually being named Héctor 1, Héctor 2 to explain the original and the future copy). It’s a brilliantly constructed story that if it had more characters it might be a more disorienting process, but the storytelling is very well done, to make sure the audience sees things in perspective. The most surprising twist is in the final third when Héctor realizes that the preordained nature is actually being orchestrated further, with the existence of a third version of himself going back even further to try to correct the mistakes the first and second versions made. While this may lead to the examples of infinite loop such as "Triangle" which also shares the same time travel twist of the hunted turning out to be the hunter, but there is a definitive end to "Timecrimes" which has some open ended questions on what would happen to the survivors, but has the time travel aspect firmly shut and done in a satisfactory way (though not for all the characters). The film was shot almost entirely in a mountainous region in Spain on a modest budget of US$2.6 million, which included the construction of the silo that held the time machine. Unfortunately during the production, Spain was hit with a hurricane and destroyed the set almost entirely. The crew was on set during the storm and footage was shot and used in the making-of documentary. Thankfully no one on the film was injured, but the production team had to deal with nature quite a bit as much of the production took place outdoors. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas on September 20th, 2007. Its Spanish premiere was on October 5th, 2007 at the Sitges Film Festival. It screened at dozens of festivals throughout the year and into 2008, finally receiving a Spanish theatrical release on June 27th, 2008. The film received high praise and awards wins including at Fantastic Fest, Trieste, Turia, and more. It was not a major film for theatrical release, with most territories opting for a straight to DVD release, and the few theatrical screenings, such as Magnet Releasing in the US having only a limited reach. It did receive more notice in the home video format with positive looks from various DVD websites, and the DVDs having some great extras with the director’s input. Vigalondo has had an interesting career in directing following the film, working in both Spanish and English productions, with a mix of science fiction, horror, and fantasy through films and television. Seventeen years after it was released, Umbrella Entertainment has brought the film to Blu-ray that includes all the great DVD extras plus a new exclusive interview with the director. Note this is a region ALL Blu-ray
Video
Umbrella Entertainment presents the theatrical cut of the film in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. The HD transfer comes from the US rightsholder Magnet/Magnolia Entertainment. Interestingly, Magnolia have not released the film on the Blu-ray format in America, nor is there a Blu-ray of the film in Spain at this time. The HD master itself has some issues that were also issues on the DVD release, but on the Blu-ray format it is more prominent. The film was shot on 16mm film on an Arriflex 16 SR3, and blown up to 35mm for theatrical screenings. The HD transfer comes from a film element, though it is not clear if it is the original 16 or from a blow-up of the finished film. For the transfer, there are some noticeable dust and speckles that can be found popping into the frame at any given time. It was not given a wetgate cleaning for its transfer, so the anomalies from the analog film source are inherent. In addition, there is no stabilization, so there are portions in which there is slight wobble to the image that is noticeable in still shots. In addition to the film to HD transfer, there are some issues with the digital master itself, with a vertical white line would appear at the bottom of the screen randomly during the film. It is not particularly frequent, but it is noticeable. The colors are more or less on the muted side, with good color reproduction but detail isn’t the strongest. On a positive note, there is no major digital enhancements made to the image, and film grain is kept intact. Maybe audiences in the 2020s are spoiled by pin sharp digital productions, or high quality film to digital restorations making everything look flawless while still looking filmic. In a way, it was refreshing to see film’s imperfections on screen here, even if it was not the intended method. One of the major draws to some of the DVD releases was the inclusion of the “chronological version” of the film which has not jumps in time, but does have a shortened runtime as it does not show parallel actions or repeated scenes as found in the theatrical version. It is a fascinating version of the film, told in a way through the eyes of the scientist seeing the unwilling time traveler arrive and the inadvertent chaos caused by him with multiple versions of himself. It would be an absolute confusing mess for first time viewers, though note it is not a simple cut and paste of the theatrical version's scenes in chronological order. There are intercuts between scenes and is quite cleverly edited together. This version is also in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. This is an upscale from a standard definition master. The colors and the framing are similar to the theatrical version, but detail is significantly weaker as it comes from SD. The runtime of the theatrical version is 92:10 while the chronological version is 63:38.
Audio
Theatrical Version: Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo Chronological Version: Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo There are lossless 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio options, both in the original Spanish language for the theatrical version. The film was originally mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 for theatrical prints, and the surround option is excellent. The mix is center heavy with all dialogue being centered, while music and effects are used in the surrounding channels. From the jump scare sound effects, the rainfall, the echoes in the basement and silo, as well as the soundtrack cues come in nice and clear. The music, effects, and dialogue are always well balanced and there are no issues with dropout, hiss, pops, or other damage to be heard. The chronological version only has a lossy 2.0 stereo track, which is fair but obviously lacks the depth of the lossless 5.1 track. There are optional English HoH subtitles for the theatrical version, in a white font. Yes, unfortunately these are HoH subtitles rather than standard translation subtitles, so there are also (sound effects) and (character names) included here. It should always be a rule with foreign language translations that the subtitles should only translate the dialogue and signs or text on screen. A hard-of-hearing subtitle track should be a secondary option for the hearing impaired. This is not the only problem with the subtitles. There are also issues with spotting, such as when two characters have dialogue subtitles on screen at the same time, they do not include a – to state a different person is speaking. It might be easy to make out with someone that can hear, but since this is technically a HoH subtitle track, it would be hard for someone with hearing impairment. One more issue is with the subtitles not being consistent with capitalization of letters. At one point it had “D.J.” on screen and another time it was “D.j.”. Days of the week were written as “friday” in smaller case and there were odd moments that a word started with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence. This was not just once or twice, but frequently throughout the film. If the film gets a remaster from original elements one day, the English subtitle track should also get a revision as well. Although for the chronological version, there are optional English subtitles, in a white font and these are standard translation subtitles. There are no sound effects or character names, and also the errors above with capitalization and having a - in front of text for overlapping dialogue are corrected! The translations are slightly different, so it seems to have been done by a different translator. The theatrical version is the best way to watch the film, but it's unfortunate the superior subtitles are found on the alternate version of the film.
Extras
Audio Commentary with Director Nacho Vigalondo (theatrical version) This commentary has the director discussing the creation of the film, details of the characters, the writing process and its evolution, the difficulty of keeping track of continuity during production, subtle hints in the background for foreshadowing, as well as some funny comments on his own acting. He also discusses about how grateful he is for director commentary tracks being widely accessible on DVD and being slightly nervous for his first one. in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles 2024 Interview with Director Nacho Vigalondo (25:25) This new and exclusive interview has Vigalondo looking back at his first feature, talking about how he came up with the story, the films and books that inspired the story, the difficult writing process, the ideas for the characters, the near death experience from the hurricane during the production, and more. This is a webcam interview, so the image and sound are fair but not particularly idea looking or sounding. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles "The Making of Timecrimes" documentary (44:28) This vintage documentary includes behind the scenes footage of the production, from B-roll footage to interviews with the cast and crew on set with candid remarks. It also includes the footage of the hurricane that destroyed the set and footage of a news team interviewing the cast and crew about the experience. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles Cast and Crew Interviews (10:15) This vintage set of interviews starts with some behind the scenes footage, followed by interviews with Geonaga, producer Eduardo Carneros, Elejalde, Vigalondo, and make-up artist Óscar del Monte. The actors discuss about their characters and the production challenges, the producer talks about the script and the production, the director on the challenges of writing as well as directing and acting at the same time, and the make-up artist on the techniques used. There is an odd digital hiccup during the start of Geonaga's interview when the footage and sound pause for a second or two. This is not a problem with the disc but encoded in the video itself. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4, in 1.33:1, in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles "Make-up" featurette (5:50) Here is a more in-depth yet short vintage piece on the make-up effects and prosthetics used. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles "7:35 in the Morning" 2003 short film (7:46) Taking place at a café in Spain, it has a man (played by Nacho Vigalondo) singing and confessing his love in a flash-mob style to a woman (played by Marla Belenguer) while all the other patrons are participating by reading the hand written lyrics, playing the music, and dancing to the choreographed moments. The performance is not particularly engaging by the patrons, as it shows that the man forced them to perform with him, as he has a bomb strapped to his chest as their threat. Shot on black and white film, this musical-comedy-bomb-in-the-room short became a surprise Oscar contender for Best Live Action Short and also winning a number of festival awards, establishing Vigalondo and leading him to eventually work in feature films. (The Oscar that year went to Andrea Arnold’s "Wasp".) The transfer here is an SD master and upscaled to HD, but it is not a particularly good one. There is little depth for greyscale, with blacks being crushed and whites being blown out, and vertical edges being pixelated. Here is another one that should get a new transfer from the original film someday to look better for the future. Sound is fair, though it does not have too much stereo separation. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4, in 1.85:1, in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles "Timecrimes Internet Game" documentary (32:47) This vintage documentary looks at the internet game created in parallel with the film, which the site had supposed found footage that connects with events from the film itself. The documentary includes interviews with Vigalondo as well as the full scenes that were created for the site. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4, in 1.33:1, in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles Original Trailer (1:36) This is the original US trailer by Magnet, which has no dialogue but gives away all of the spoiler plot points with the on screen text. The trailer has been embedded below, courtesy of Magnet/Magnolia. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.85:1, Music Dolby Digital 2.0 with English text Teaser Trailer (0:39) An all too short Spanish teaser which opens with critics quotes and gives away none of the plot. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4, in 1.85:1, in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles The film was released on DVD years back, with each having some slight differences in extras and languages. It made its HD debut on Blu-ray in Germany by Koch Media. The 2-disc edition had all the DVD extras included plus both versions of the film. This Umbrella release retains all the DVD era extras and adds the new director's interview for its package. Other notable clips: Vigalondo at Sitges 2007 "Picture This" by Blondie The trailer for "Daniela Forever" (2024), Vigalondo's latest romantic-fantasy-sci-fi feature
Packaging
The disc is packaged in a standard clear keep case with reversible artwork. The only difference is the Australian M rating logos are removed on the opposite side. The packaging mistakenly states region B only as it is a region ALL Blu-ray. It is also available with a slipcover exclusively at the Umbrella Web Shop. It is also available in a Collector's Edition exclusively at the Umbrella Web Shop which also includes: - A 48 page book with behind-the-scenes, experiences and art including essays from Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Miguel Sebastián Martín - Custom artwork rigid case by RYVE Creative - Custom artwork slipcover by RYVE Creative - 8 artcards - A3 reversible poster
Overall
"Timecrimes" is a brilliant time travel thriller with a minimal cast and minimal settings done very creatively. The performances, the direction are all excellent and holds up extremely well after more than fifteen years later. The Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray is not particularly the best, as it has a subpar transfer and shoddy subtitles for the theatrical version, and while all the great DVD era extras are included, the only new extra is a new director's interview. As great as it is, there are no signs of Umbrella's great video essays or new commentaries to be found here. The film itself comes as highly recommended, but this release could have easily been better. Umbrella Web shop link (standard or slipcover) Umbrella Web Shop link (Collector's Edition)
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