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Running time: 92 minutes
Directed by: Nacho Vigalondo
Starring: Karra Elejalde
IMDB rating: 7.2
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480669/
Héctor and his wife have just moved into a new house. After receiving an unusual phonecall, he goes outside to relax and uses his binoculars to look around the surrounding area of his new home. He suddenly sees a woman standing alone, removing her top. When he looks back again, she seems to have fallen. Understandably, Héctor goes closer to check it out, but as he gets near to the woman (who is laying still on the ground, naked) he is attacked by a man with bandages covering his face.
Héctor runs away, but due to not knowing the area well he ends up at a nearby science facility. In attempting to escape the masked man, he ends up going into a strange giant container, and emerges to find out that he has travelled back in time to earlier that same day.
Strange happenings, intriguing story, and nudity from an attractive female. So far, so good.
To reveal any more of the story would spoil it, but as you'd expect, there are various dilemmas for him to overcome, mysteries to be solved, and questions are raised about the laws of time travel (causality etc).
The middle section of the film is a bit of a drag. It's predictable, and as such feels like you're going through the motions (or at least watching someone else go through them). I guess the point of this was to make the viewer question whether or not things would go to plan, but I never doubted that they would so this part was a tad dull.
The final third was very good. As the plot thickens, Héctor is pushed towards even more desperate measures in order to put things right, and it seems like he may only make things worse in his attempts to fix the situation.
I'm a fan of sci-fi anyway, and I think the time travel subgenre has a lot of possibilities. Even though many films have covered similar territory, I can't think of one that was quite like this, and it feels fresh and original. The acting is good and I think this film would be enjoyed by most people, even those who aren't usually drawn towards sci-fi.
7/10
Note: The director, Nacho Vigalondo, was previously responsible for an Oscar-nominated short film, which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aDQ4wtv0dY