Timecode (2000 film)
{{short description|2000 film by Mike Figgis}}
{{Redirect|Timecode (film)|the Spanish short film|Timecode (2016 film)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Timecode
| image = Timecode.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Mike Figgis
| producer = Mike Figgis
Annie Stewart
| writer = Mike Figgis
| starring = {{Plainlist|
| music = Mike Figgis
Anthony Marinelli
| editing = Mike Figgis
| cinematography = Patrick Alexander Stewart
| studio = Screen Gems
Red Mullet Productions
| distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing{{cite web|title=Time Code (2000)|work=AFI Catalog of Feature Films|access-date=15 March 2021|url=http://catalog.afi.com/Film/61880-TIME-CODE?sid=5baa6e83-8007-41da-9c0c-4ee2f622b467&sr=9.543967&cp=1&pos=0}}
| released = {{film date|2000|4|28}}
| country = United States
| runtime = 98 minutes
| language = English
| budget = $4 million
| gross = $1,431,406{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0220100/ |website=Box Office Mojo |title=Timecode (2000) |accessdate=September 25, 2020 }}
}}
Timecode is a 2000 American experimental film written and directed by Mike Figgis and featuring a large ensemble cast, including Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Suzy Nakamura, Kyle MacLachlan, Saffron Burrows, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, Xander Berkeley, Leslie Mann and Mía Maestro.{{Cite news |last=Falk |first=Ben |date=August 18, 2000 |title=Timecode review |work=BBC |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/08/16/timecode_2000_review.shtml}}
The film is constructed from four continuous 98-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameras; the screen is divided into quarters, and the four shots are shown simultaneously.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/aug/11/culture.features |title=Once upon a Time Code |accessdate=June 3, 2013|work=The Guardian|location=London|first=Richard|last=Williams|date=August 11, 2000}} The film depicts several groups of people in Los Angeles as they interact and conflict while preparing for the shooting of a movie in a production office. The dialogue was largely improvised, and the sound mix of the film is designed so that the most significant of the four sequences on screen dominates the soundtrack at any given moment.
Plot
The film takes place in and around a film production company office, and involves several interweaving plot threads which include a young actress named Rose who tries to score a screen test from her secret boyfriend Alex Green, a noted but disillusioned director. Meanwhile, Rose's tryst with him is discovered by her girlfriend Lauren, an insanely jealous businesswoman who plants a microphone in Rose's purse and spends most of the time in the back of her limousine parked outside the office building listening in on Rose's conversations. Elsewhere, Alex's wife Emma is seen with a therapist debating about asking him for a divorce. In the meantime, numerous film industry types pitch ideas for the next big hit film.{{Cite web |last=Solman |first=Gregory |title=Review: Time Code |url=https://www.filmcomment.com/article/time-code-review/ |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=Film Comment |language=en}}
Cast
File:Screenshot-Timecode.png technique used throughout Timecode]]
{{castlist|
- Xander Berkeley as Evan Wantz
- Golden Brooks as Onyx Richardson
- Saffron Burrows as Emma Green
- Viveka Davis as Victoria Cohen
- Richard Edson as Lester Moore
- Aimee Graham as Sikh Nurse
- Salma Hayek as Rose
- Glenne Headly as Dava Adair, Therapist
- Andrew Heckler as Auditioning Actor
- Holly Hunter as Renee Fishbine, Executive
- Danny Huston as Randy
- Daphna Kastner as Auditioning Actress
- Patrick Kearney as Drug House Owner
- Elizabeth Low as Penny, Evan's Assistant
- Kyle MacLachlan as Bunny Drysdale
- Mía Maestro as Ana Pauls
- Leslie Mann as Cherine
- Suzy Nakamura as Connie Ling
- Alessandro Nivola as Joey Z
- Zuleikha Robinson as Lester Moore's Assistant
- Julian Sands as Quentin
- Stellan Skarsgård as Alex Green
- Jeanne Tripplehorn as Lauren
- Steven Weber as Darren
}}
In the first run through, Headly's role as Dava Adair was performed by Laurie Metcalf.
Production
The movie was shot with four hand-held digital cameras, in one take, on the sixteenth performance. Largely improvised, Figgis provided the actors with blank, four-staff music manuscript paper, with each octave representing a camera view at that particular moment in time, up to the 93 minutes of camera capacity. The actors themselves personally kept track of the activities occurring in other camera points of view that were relative to their performance.
Rehearsals were single-take performances, filmed over fifteen days. Filmed in the mornings, with the actors fully involved, the footage was reviewed and discussed in the afternoons. Four separate monitors replayed each camera point of view simultaneously.{{cite web|last1=Ebert|first1=Roger|title=Time Code|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/time-code-2000|website=RogerEbert.com|accessdate=September 25, 2015|date=April 26, 2000|quote=Time Code was shot entirely with digital cameras, hand-held, in real time. The screen is split into four segments, and each one is a single take about 93 minutes long. The stories are interrelated, and sometimes the characters in separate quadrants cross paths and are seen by more than one camera.}} The first rehearsal recording was included as a bonus feature on the film's 2000 DVD release.
The film's action ends with closing activity in three quadrants and the following statement (no capitalization beyond film's title) in the fourth quadrant:
{{blockquote|
TIME CODE was filmed in
4 continuous takes beginning
at 3:00 pm on friday,
november 19th, 1999.
all of the cast improvised around
a predetermined structure.}}
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave Timecode a rating of 68% from 81 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Not much of a story, but the execution is interesting."{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/timecode | title=Timecode | website=Rotten Tomatoes }} Metacritic gave the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 31 critic reviews.{{Cite web |title=Timecode |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/timecode |website=Metacritic}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0220100|title=Timecode}}
- {{TCMDb title|444069|Timecode}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes|id=timecode|title=Timecode}}
- {{Mojo title|timecode}}
- [https://vimeo.com/104596232 Los Angeles, the City in Cinema: Timecode essay by Colin Marshall on Vimeo]
{{Mike Figgis}}
Category:American avant-garde and experimental films
Category:American independent films
Category:American self-reflexive films
Category:2000 independent films
Category:Films directed by Mike Figgis
Category:Films scored by Anthony Marinelli
Category:2000s avant-garde and experimental films
Category:Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
Category:Films set in Los Angeles