Reviewing “Time Lapse” Polaroids, creative blocks, and fast money schemes make for a compelling tale about messing with Time

Time Lapse is a scifi thriller that plays with the perception of time, and paints a compelling picture of how regular people can become unhinged from desperately wanting to know today what answers tomorrow will bring for what they see as the obstacles in their lives at the moment.

A simple check on the wellbeing of a resident of the apartment complex Finn and his roommates work for leads to a secret the old inventor had been hiding: a device that takes pictures of a moment 24 hours into the future. While searching for the old man, the roommates discover his dead body, strangely charred and nearly mummified, leading Jasper to succinctly caution his friends: “Don’t f-ck with time!”

The assumptions and choices the friends make while trying to make sure that what happens in the photographs actually still happens, while using the photos to try to improve their financial situations, lead them to make darker and more desperate choices as the days go on. The emotional stresses of keeping the big secret of the machine’s existence and the death of the inventor — while its camera shows them new secrets to be kept or brings old ones into the light of day — causes them to unravel, and make several devastating choices that maybe the camera is affirming should be made.

Films like this are what I think indie films will always have to offer; storytelling that highlights how the characters handle (or don’t handle) the changes introduced to their lives, rather than squeezing a thought or two in between chase scenes and fight scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good action movie that contains both story and excitement, but when you walk out of a theater and can’t find a single thing to think back on about the movie (or have no interest in doing so), that confirms there was a little something missing.

Steampunk fans will get a kick out of the machine itself, including glimpses of the blueprints on the wall, but there is something for just about every genre fan here: suspense, confusion from being caught up in timey wimey things, conspiracies, and needing to keep the existence of advanced technology secret.

For more insight into the film, check out the Slice of SciFi interview with director Bradley King. You can see it now in select theaters, or check it out on iTunes, on Amazon Instant, or pre-order it on Blu-ray or DVD (available June 16).

A science fiction thriller with a mind-bending premise, Time Lapse explores the possibilities of time travel via a camera that takes pictures 24 hours into the future. When three friends discover this mysterious machine, they conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop and tear their relationship apart. Starring Danielle Panabaker (“The Flash”), Matt O’Leary and George Finn, Time Lapse combines edge-of-your-seat suspense with provocative ideas about pre-determination and free will.