TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
miller-steve
Today is 2018 and I just bought my own copy of this and haven't watched it yet. I saw this only once--in 1994, and I've never stopped thinking about it. Maybe, Maybe this can be compared to Pulp Fiction, but only because the viewer has the "assemble" the story. This is NOT a scrambled sequence like PF, but the message is understood by recognizing the similarities of four different "skits." I think the worst part is the narration, which I understand from iMDB's Trivia was added later by the producer, not the director's choice. I don't give ten stars because I genuinely consider Average should get 5, only very rare spectacular movies get a 10 from me.
brchthethird
I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first heard about this film. All I knew was that it was composed of five separate stories that spanned centuries, with Robin Williams as the link between all of them. Sounds quite ambitious, right? Yes, but the end result was underwhelming and, dare I say it, a little dull. There are, however, some major themes explored here as indicated by the title. I guess if you were to boil the film down to its essence, it is, simply put, about being human. Being more specific, it is about mankind's search and need for companionship and family, along with all of the other small things, good and bad, which enter into our lives on our journey through time. Robin Williams' character Hector, a name which he has for the entire film, can be said to literally make a journey through time. It's not explicitly stated, but since he does keep the same name throughout, you could say that his character in each subsequent story is a reincarnation of who he is in the previous one. This is all fine, but there were some spots which felt underdeveloped and worst of all, the film is practically destroyed by some of the worst voice-over narration I've ever heard. Thankfully, by the final segment the narration isn't so omnipresent. By far the worst effect of the narration is to replace character development and spoon-feed the film's themes to the audience. I did a little research online, and apparently the director, Bill Forsyth, had to cut 40 minutes and add the narration after an initial cut had a poor test screening. It's a pity that that early version isn't available to watch, because I think the film would be better in that form. The closest I think the film got was the final segment, but that one segment didn't exactly make up for all that came before it. But it did tie the film together thematically, and provide a satisfying conclusion to the larger story arc. Overall it was a satisfactory watch, but it still felt like it was missing something. Better films like this would be CLOUD ATLAS and THE FOUNTAIN, but there are still elements to appreciate in this film.
feline_on_line
I got to see this for the third time at the Glasgow Film Theatre, with Bill Forsyth speaking about it. What treat! He calls this one of the most expensive art films ever made. It was intended to be even more abstract and mysterious than it is. He had big problems with the studio/ producers wanting it to be easier to understand and more mainstream accessible - hence the slightly awkward voice-over. Too bad it is not successful enough to warrant a Director's Cut. You can never get a 2nd chance at a first impression, but I would love to see it as Bill Forsyth intended. I expect it would be even more powerful. Robin Williams is great. It really is a good film, but don't expect a laugh-a-minute or anything Hollywood. Because of the changes that the studio insisted upon it inhabits some kind of strange middle ground.
docadams
This is one of those comfortable Sunday-afternoon-while-it's-raining films. It is one of Robin Williams more serious characters.A little moody in places, the film offers reflections on what it might have been like to live at other times, as a sort of social history (no being a king or queen or royalty). The main character plays his life issues out through time, from ancient Rome, a Viking raid, a 16th or 17th century continental vagrant, to the present. Love, life's tragedies, children, and home are all themes. There is a light-heartiness to the film, and it plays on the contemporary character's life as it unfolds. Robin Williams turns in a typically great performance.The themes and emotions all play in their times. Settings are as varied as the emotions. Sweet and sentimental, the movie captures and makes a statement about the human condition.
