AFFF log

Man with a movie camera freezes time and turns into a stalker
Links: AFFF / imdb

This is one of those high-concept sci-fi films. The premise of this film is that the protagonist loses his wife and son in an accident, but finds out that his video camera has magical capabilities - pressing pause freezes time (until the battery runs out).

The key question in these kind of films is whether or not the makers succeed in developing this genius idea into a fully fledged feature. Suspension pulls that off, exploring the obvious ideas like stealing money or voyeuristic adventures, but refrains from turning into a teenage comedy. The protagonist is left without a meaningful life, and finds new purpose in aiding and adoring the wife of the man who also died in the accident.

Nicely tie-ing in with the theme: this film is a good example of John August's advice on coincidence. Better have one big coincidence where you as a writer/director ask the audience to accept it for what it is (in this case the magical video camera that freezes time), then a series of minor coincidences. Suspension completely adheres to its own (and real world) logic after setting up the plot device of the pause button.

Even though I enjoyed the film, I can't escape the impression that it doesn't really leave you with a satisfying feeling at the end. Everything comes to a closure, but somehow I didn't leave the theatre with a happy-sad smile on my face (which is what should have happened). Perhaps they should have done more with the theme of not being able to mend something that is broken. This theme surfaces mainly in the form of objects, not really on an emotional level for each of the characters.

Rating: 7