God’s Time, 2022
Directed by Daniel Antebi.
Starring Ben Groh, Dion Costelloe, Liz Caribel Sierra, Christiane Seidel, Jared Abrahamson, Emily Fleischer, Segun Akande, Bobby Guarino, Elizabeth Kelly Hoy, Yvette Mercedes, Sol Miranda, Manuel Penichet, Luisa Sofia, and John Pope.
SYNOPSIS:
Dev and Luca race through New York to stop Regina, on a righteous mission to murder her ex-boyfriend.
The ending credits to God’s Time feature an outtake where one of the characters says, “we didn’t make a movie; we made a vibe,” except it comes across like condescending desperation to justify everything here that doesn’t work. It’s as if the filmmakers already know audiences will struggle to enjoy this, and it’s difficult to blame them.
Writer/director Daniel Antebi’s debut narrative feature is a stylistic and quirky dark comedy with an undercurrent of potential tragedy that never really succeeds at blending those aspects. It’s another entry in the fast-paced, stressed-out point A to point B sub-genre, here seemingly taking notes from the Safdie Brothers considering the New York City location, but it fails to elicit a sense of urgency or weight beyond its lame attempts at comedy. Also, it arguably has a crisis of perspective, clunkily shifting its focus across its three central characters, tight friends that have bonded at a drug addiction recovery program.
There is Regina (Liz Caribel Sierra), the recovering addict who repeatedly tells the story of how her ex-boyfriend didn’t help her but instead chose to kick her out of the house while also keeping her cherished dog companion (these scenes and other confessionals are often uninspiring and shot like a standard talking heads documentary). At the end of these monologues, she makes a threat that she will kill her ex-boyfriend and take the dog back before cooling down and assuring them she won’t do that since he will meet his demise in God’s time (like most recovery programs, finding and believing in any higher power, even one as nonsensical as a doorknob, is part of the process.)
Then there are long-time close friends Dev and Luca (Ben Groh and Dion Costelloe) rehearsing lines for an upcoming audition. They both have a crush on Regina, although viewers are made aware that Luca is sleeping with her while Dev is in the dark about it. Nevertheless, after one particular session, Dev notices that Regina did not end her speech with the part about God coming to get her ex-boyfriend, quickly concluding that she is relapsing and on her way to kill him for real. After some bickering upon learning the truth about the connection between Luca and Regina, Dev successfully convinces him to come on a journey to stop her from doing the deed, which is hastened by the realization that she has Luca’s father’s gun.
The severity of this situation is undercut by Dev frequently talking to the camera and other stylistic touches that bluntly feel out of place. Dev and Luca cross paths with Regina multiple times, unsuccessfully preventing her from continuing her mission for various reasons. The primary issue here is that the filmmakers never allow viewers to feel the weight and potential consequences of what Regina is about to do, as it’s more concerned with bumbling idiot wannabe aspiring actors that need to learn a thing or two about the meaning of friendship.
These lessons also feel hollow, stuck inside an amateurish script filled with contrivances and empty air. The performances themselves are fine, so there’s no opposition to seeing these actors again, but even considering God’s Time strictly by the vibes, it’s often uninvolving, even at only 83 minutes.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published February 21, 2023. Updated February 22, 2023.
