Review: Time Out of Mind

You won't have fun watching this movie. You won't laugh, or hardly crack a smile; directed by Oren Moverman, TIME OUT OF MIND is not a happy-go-lucky or feel-good movie, but a call to notice. It will leave you thinking about a topic that is continually brushed over in polite conversation: homelessness.

The film opens with a slow pan of the city, with snippets of conversation from its inhabitants flitting in and out of audibility as the camera pulls back to reveal an abandoned apartment. Here, a disgruntled building manager (an altogether random cameo by Steve Buscemi) introduces us to George (Richard Gere): homeless, disheveled, and asleep in a bathtub. As he gets pushed out into the streets of Manhattan, the film follows him in his continual struggle to get back on his feet.

The film is definitely plot-light, focusing instead on giving a snapshot of George's character and predicament while simultaneously shining a light on the issue of homelessness in the city. While I have never really been a fan of Gere's acting abilities, he manages to completely disappear into George's tired psyche. Jena Malone also strikes a powerful chord as George's daughter, Maggie, with whom George continually tries to reconnect. And the cinematography turns the city itself into a character, revealing its color and bustle through dirty windows, and getting in everybody's business.

The soundscape matches, if not surpasses, the cinematography in its depiction of the city. Pressing in on George from all sides, with thin walls and inadvertent destruction of personal space, Moverman removes any discernible measure of distance for the voices of the passersby - they seep into the foreground, thereby forcing George to fight for prominence in the narrative... the perfect symbol of the struggle of the homeless. It is also a strong reminder that along with a home, George has lost all sense of privacy, something that wears him thin throughout the two-hour film.

And that's the downside to this film: while the length and pace of the film certainly serves a purpose in trapping its audience in the frustration of the protagonist, it could have achieved the same thing in an hour and a half, or even in forty minutes.

If you want this reviewer's opinion, give this film a shot and treat yourself to a night of awareness of the world's plight of homelessness. TIME OUT OF MIND is now playing at the Midtown Cinema!