Things Will Be Different, 2024.
Written and Directed by Michael Felker.
Starring Riley Dandy, Adam David Thompson, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, and Sarah Bolger.
SYNOPSIS:
When estranged siblings Joseph and Sidney rendezvous at a local diner after a close-call robbery, they hightail it to an abandoned farmhouse that transports them to a different time to escape the law. Their hideout is compromised when an unknown metaphysical force blocks them from leaving the farmhouse and its immediate surroundings. Trapped on the farm, brother and sister must question everything they know about reality and their familial bonds.
The once-close familiarity of sibling relationships that have grown adrift is adroitly studied in Michael Felker’s feature debut. The strain on Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) – reunited through crime – is given an extra weight thanks to the weird vagaries of time and space.
A compelling Twilight Zone-style mystery is at the heart of this high-concept sci-fi thriller. Heading for what is supposed to be a safe house after a robbery, the pair soon find out that they are imprisoned. The neat metaphor for the ties of family that we can’t escape even if we’d like to is writ large over this piece. The brother and sister even have matching tattoos indicating a kind of branding.
The two leads are excellent in showcasing the intensity of siblinghood in what for the characters is a waiting game for the unknown. A mysterious voice informs them that this ‘unknown’ is an enemy on the way to the farm. If they wish to escape, they must dispatch it, no questions asked.
The gnawing wait for this visitor is shown with Felker’s sense of pacing and experience of editing shown off skilfully. Sidney and Joseph spend time drinking (lots) and opening up about the past. The textured layering of Jimmy LaValle’s minimal score and the musical selections from Michael A. Muller add depth to the visual representations of the weight of mystery.
Felker has talked about wanting to make a movie with a world of background that benefits from multiple views. Where there is a world beyond the immediate events of the script that colours and fleshes out the characters and their stories.
This is a refreshing attitude from a filmmaker in a world where all too often audiences are spoon-fed the ‘answers’. That certainly isn’t the case in Things Will Be Different, and it’s all the better for it.
What does come across boldly is the subjective realisation of time passing by – and of how time can change its workings in a split second – combined with an investigation into what makes life important for each of us. An impressive calling-card for Felker then, who sci-fi fans will hope will continue on with more works of a similarly imaginative nature in the future.
Things Will Be Different arrives in cinemas and VOD on October 4th in the US.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk
Originally published September 30, 2024. Updated October 1, 2024.
