Since I was very young, I’ve always held a rapt fascination with the time-travel sub-genre. While it is certainly technically feasible for humanity to travel to distant stars, galaxies, and beyond, it is far less likely that science will ever crack the code that will allow us to travel back-and-forth through time. Until then, science fiction is there to nurture that burning desire to relive the past or peek into the future.
While I typically try to avoid any critical or audience feedback on a film before I review it, it failed to escape my notice that the buzz surrounding Hannah Macpherson’s sophomore feature Time Cut was less than enthusiastic (29 and 33% on Rotten Tomatoes respectively). I didn’t delve into the reasons why for fear of spoilers, but it did have the effect of lowering my expectations. Perhaps that’s why I ended up enjoying it more than I expected to.
The all-American town of Sweetly (as portrayed by Winnipeg), suffered a horrific tragedy in 2003 when several teens were murdered by a masked maniac dubbed the “Sweetly Slasher”. The murderer was never caught and 21 years later in 2024, the town still suffers a collective trauma, including the parents of Lucy (Madison Bailey) whose overprotection of her stems from their first daughter Summer (Antonia Gentry) being one of the slasher’s victims.
Lucy has never known her older sister, but her presence weighs heavy in her life, with her room being preserved exactly the way it was upon her death and the family’s annual visits to a shrine commemorating the victims. It’s during one of these visits that Lucy inadvertently stumbles upon a time machine in a nearby barn which promptly zaps her 21 years into the past.
With the time machine out of juice, Lucy seeks the assistance of local whiz kid and perpetual bullying victim Quinn (Griffin Gluck) to help get her back to the future lest she cause a massive paradox. But after accidentally befriending her long-lost sister, her resolve not to meddle in the space-time-continuum is severely tested as she is increasingly tempted to not just be an observer of the past, but become an agent of change. Unfortunately for her, doing so could threaten her very existence as she discovers her parents likely only conceived her in the first place to replace Summer.
Honestly, I found myself being solidly entertained throughout much of Time Cut. The screenplay by Macpherson and Michael Kennedy confidently weaves an engaging first act which the young cast is game to exploit. While the production design never quite nails the early 2000s aesthetic (where are all the goths??), the cultural commentary is solid and the nostalgic tunes score the whole effort extra points. Most importantly ,the conundrum faced by Lucy at the film’s centre is heavier than anything Marty McFly had to face which had the potential for an impactful finale.
Regrettably, the final act is where Time Cut loses much of the audience goodwill with its multiple plot holes, shaky character motivation and rather egregious conclusion. I won’t spoil too much here, but much of the final act feels like the scribblings of a screenwriter who dawdled a little too close to the deadline. This is all the more puzzling given that the film was delayed quite a bit following its 2021 production and apparently underwent re-shots in the UK according to the credits. In any case, the conclusin fails to satisfy on either an emotional or logical level and is bound to leave viewers engaging in overlapping “WTF”-style discussions as the credits roll.
As long as you don’t go into this expecting HBO-level drama, Time Cut is a decent way for Gen Z and friends to spend an evening. The nuts-and-bolts are better than its reputation suggests and even if the ending leads you flat, the winning soundtrack of nostalgic 2000s tunes may help carry the day.
6.5/10
Time Cut currently streams worldwide on Netflix