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The Neon Monkey tells us of TWICE UPON A YESTERDAY
He dar Capn' Tarpals, Mesa back.... Heh heh... Sorry, It's merely me, Harry. God I'm tired, but I'm updating from Kirby Lane... A trusty cup of coffee, and a never ending trough on the way. I'll update... if it kills me. I have been awake since 4:30 in the A.M. Well, enough self-flagelluation, on to the news... I haven't heard of this film, until now that is... So I'm just gonna turn this on over to the Neon Monkey...
Been reading your site for years but have rarely had the chance to
contribute anything. I don't know if there's much interest in a
little British romantic comedy with a bunch of relatively no-name
actors but I enjoyed it so I thought I'd take this opportunity to
share my thoughts. You can call me Neon Monkey.
Anyway, I'm not sure what kind of release schedule "Twice Upon a
Yesterday" has in the states but I live in Montreal and just caught a
preview screening here. A buddy of mine works at a company
affliated with a small film company here so hopefully I'll be
scoring more passes and will be able to add my 2 cents for
little guys from time to time. Firstly, pretty damn good movie. The
premise is basically that of a struggling actor (played by someone
who's name I can't remember for the life of me...he's the actor who
was sleeping with his onscreen sister, Patsy Kensit, in Angels and
Insects) who loses his girlfriend after admitting to cheating on her.
The movie begins a year later as the ex-girlfriend, played by the
AMAZING Lena Heady, is preparing to marry someone else. During a fit
of drunken despair, our inebriated hero runs into 2 garbagemen
evoking references of Don Quixote who give him an opportunity to
travel back a year in time to avoid telling his girlfriend about the
affair. What follows is essentially a charming little romantic
comedy that evokes thoughts of fate and destiny ala Sliding Doors.
The film is directed by Maria Ripoll who is yet another person
involved with this movie who I have never heard of but expect to in
the future. Another notable inclusion in the cast in Penelope Cruz
as Louisa, the new girl in the protagnist's (DAMN - I wish I could
remeber his name) life. From seeing her name to watching her
throughout the latter half of the film I had the odd feeling of
knowing her from somewhere but I couldn't quite place it. Later that
night I realized that I had seen her years ago in the Spanish film,
"Jamon, Jamon". This I remember because I was a teen and she was
naked quite a bit and the combination of those two factors led to a
happy memory.
Anyway, as for the actual film...I enjoyed the hell out of it. I
went with zero expectations just content to see a free movie but had
the pleasure of watching quite the enjoyable movie. The acting was
excellent...escpecially by the three leads (might I add again that I
have fallen in love with Lena Heady and will be looking for anything
she's done on video just to watch her for another 2 hours). One
complaint is that the film could lose 10-15 minutes. This isn't to
say that is was overlong but just that it seemed to lag at times.
The music was good if slightly repetitive at times (though I guess
that might make sense given that we're dealing with time travel).
Anyway, besides the strong performances the writing was top
notch with clever bits of humour mixed with genuine emotion making
the lead male a goofy sort of every-man. Without giving anything
away, I thought this film was a great way of commenting of the belief
that some people are just meant to be together and some aren't...no
matter the time, place, or situation. Even if you don't believe that,
this movie makes you wonder if things in your own life are really
meant to be.
Catch ya on the flip side,
Neon Monkey
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I'm going to see this movie if for no other reason than as a show of support of Neon Monkey's review. I can't express how refreshing it is to find a review on these pages that is actually well-written. I love AICN and you can't beat it for enthusiasm and insider information, but the writing, frankly, stinks. For once, we're treated to an honest, earnest review without a ridiculous, three paragraph introduction in the voice of some fictional persona (are you reading this, Moriarty and Harry?). There...I feel better now. I just had to vent.
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I saw this movie a few weeks ago at the new Union Square Theater up here in old Noo Yawk. It's already gone so I suspect it's next stop is home video. Definitely worth a rental. As the reviewer pointed out, similar conceit to "Sliding Doors" but "Twice Upon a Yesterday" is a superior film. I'll watch this movie again just to watch Lena Headey on screen. She's is amazing looking!
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Just to let you know this film has been out in Blighty for some time, still haven't seen it yet though. Anyway i do know the following, lead actor's name in Douglas Henshall & he's done a wide range of Tv & Movie work but not a lot outside the U.k. Lena Headey is also a busy bee & can be found playing Jane to Jason Scott Lee's Tarzan & in Antonia Bird's (Ravenous) film "Face" with Robert Carlyle amongst others.
I hope it does well in the States the reviews here were generally good. -
He didn't write that well (no offense).
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It's currently playing in L.A., but not for long I'm sure. But Douglas Henshall is great, like a British Eric Stolz, he could be a major star in the States if someone were willing to gamble. However Neon Monkey, THANKS FOR BLOWING A MAJOR TWIST OF "ANGELS AND INSECTS!" You're a good writer, but learn how to couch secrets please!
Useless trivia: the shooting title was THE MAN WITH RAIN IN HIS SHOES, which doesn't really fit the completed film, but it does get your attention--someone should use it for a different film. It is a mostly Spanish financed and crewed film, and it does owe a lot to the Spanish concept of "magical realism" put forth by authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende. See it if you can! -
No, the review wasn't Hemingway but it's all relative. My beef is with the amazingly BAD writing one usually sees here. Horrible grammar, ridiculous spelling, the ultrageek RPG-speak and superfluous material written "in character." And what is with all the ellipses (....)? It's just terribly distracting, not to mention irritating to wade through to get to the real meat of an article. Neon Monkey was enthusiastic without being childish and was concise and clear.
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Oops...didn't even occur to me. Gotta admit though, Harry usually puts spoiler warnings as well so I'm not the only one who forgot. Oh yeah, I feel like I'm in English class all over again with everyone examing my writing. For those who like it, cool...thanks; for those of you don't, oh well...I just did it during a break at work anyway. And the ellipses are a bad habit I've developed over the years (so is the "..."). Sorry, my point was, entertaining flick!
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