When You Were Born
2019 · 10m · USA
Directed by Zephyr Sheedy
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
In a world where time travel is everyday infrastructure, two friends are finally forced to confront the secret one of them has been carrying.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Time travel as mumblecore. The genre's expensive trappings stripped off, leaving only the awkward conversations that the spectacle usually hides. That's the version I want.
Mumblecore sci-fi — time travel rendered as kitchen-table problem — is exactly the constraint-as-aesthetic move I admire, and Primer-by-Swanberg is a real proposition. Genuinely interested.
Mumblecore sci-fi is a real lane and a 10-minute kitchen-table time travel piece is the right size to test it. Limited summary so I'm trusting the pitch — could be elegant, could be undercooked.
Reviews
A high concept, lo-fi drama that defies metaphysical constraints.