- S: Huge portions make very little sense. The presence of newspapers,
the miracle of the new substance and its lacking use, the sudden end to endless rioting,
and dialogue that often plays like theater make this movie border on pure nonsense
- C: Some elements of this film are filmed beautifully, but the editing is distracting. Costuming is also a bit off, as it often looks cheap when it's meant to embody wealth.
- E: If the story were more coherent, this film could have been a great watch. The editing choices, acting choices, and dialogue all take away from the film.
- N: The story is like a collage of moments that don't fit well together. The story hangs on too long on the nuances of the banking system, inheritances, and construction and avoids diving into the
much meatier relationship issues, time-travelling, and civil unrest that is far more interesting. It's pretentious in all the wrong ways, quoting Shakespeare and
often feeling like a play rather than an immersive story. Way too much time is spent on the artistic nature of the film, and not enough in conveying the
narrative. The best movies are a story first and a work of art second. The story is conveyed in a way that reduces the film to a gauche mess. Just when you think it can't get any worse, the ending is abrupt, corny, and provides a ridiculous panacea to the plot's conflict.
- T: The film received one bonus point for a drunken, drug-adled, albeit brief, sequence which I think achieved the essence of what the entire film intended.
This film is proof that brilliant filmmakers can still make mistakes. The story's obsession with time only reminded how much time I wasted watching this movie.
Number of Watches: 1