Chronesthesia, written and directed by Hayden J. Weal - 8.7 out of 10

Chronesthesia, written and directed by Hayden J. Weal

8.7 out of 10

This motion picture, produced and filmed in New Zealand, has some intriguing, at times hard to explain messages, but overall, this is more than entertaining, and it is a fresh, creative feature.

Love and Time Travel seems to be an alternative name – it was anyway translated with this title on our Cinemax channel, where we had the chance to enjoy it.

The writer – director is also an excellent actor and he plays the hero, Dan Duncombe, who seems to be an unlikely protagonist at the beginning, or in any case, a rather unlikeable one.

The attractive Imogen, a yoga instructor, is trying to communicate with this unsympathetic, uncommunicative man, with no effect.

Indeed, she comes to the coffee shop – not a Starbucks as far as one could tell – and she gets no reaction from the one who has had intimate relations with her – admittedly, later one he would mention he is sorry and state that he has been quite awful and apologizes.

The hero would become very interested in Sophia, although they meet in rather awkward circumstances – they may have experiences the Time Travel mentioned in the title.

However, that part is rather obscure for this cinephile, who was nevertheless not bothered by the mysterious, unexplained messages written with lipstick on the window...perhpas very clear for those who watch attentively, are more perspicacious or both.

Dan runs in a pink shirt and a mauve short – the little Summer would ask him why pink – when he passes by a couple of girls arguing, the bigger one bullying the smaller and not minding the adult, when he asks her to stop.

Not concerned, somewhat careless as most people are when they encounter strangers with problems on the street, the runner continues when he sees that he has had no success and furthermore, the older girl, who might be about eleven, showed she could pretend the adult was mischievous or worse…

Notwithstanding this threat, Dan stops after a few paces, comes back and mentions calling the police, just as the siren of an official car is approaching – perhaps it was an ambulance, or the firefighters brigade.

This alarm has the needed effect, for the threatening girl walks out in a hurry and then Summer, who could be eight, says she cannot get home, mentioning a bus fare, then claiming she does not know how to return and asking the man for assistance, that is to walk with her home.

At her house, they find Sophia, who takes care of Summer, but she is not a baby sitter, in fact, she is a psychologist who has in her care a very special case, a man called Zach, who depends on her for his survival it looks like, not just wellbeing.

As Sophia and Dan get to know each other and become intimate with one another, she would mention the lack of care that this Zach receives, as he is given he chance to see a doctor once a month, when he would need to have access to specialists and more than once a month.

Hence, the protection, psychological support that Sophia, in her kindness, magnanimity offers to this man that might eventually present a peril for her, albeit she states statistics that show such cases are only rarely dangerous.

This remarkable woman has some of the most interesting lines in the film:

‘Everyone works with the brain knows that we have no idea how it works…’

‘People have a lot more influence than they think”

As for the last statement, some psychological studies suggest that each individual could influence up to 1,000 people and for those who have a more important role in the communities where they socialize, it could be much more than that…alas, in cases like Trump’s that spells disaster.

The plot is complicated by the presence of Richard, an elderly man that Dan meets in the bus station, who is looking for Elena, the woman he has loved…forty years ago, albeit we should say he still loves her.

Richard thinks that there had been an abortion, provoked by Elena’s father, but he is wrong and one is tempted to say who this son is, given the infinitesimal chances that we have to spoil the film for the unlikely reader of this note, who would then decide to look for this small budget, independent film form New Zealand.

Suffice it to say nonetheless that the feature is very good and worth watching.