Release Date: September 20, 2013 (Limited)
Currently playing on VOD platforms
Director: Dennis Iliadis
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: 5.5/10
What would happen if you took an epic party film like Project X and mixed in some Primer-esque time travel? In addition to having girls make out with themselves, you’d have a fairly interesting concept for a film, which is exactly what +1 is. While there are certain paradoxes and holes to be found within the plot, there aren’t too many time travel films that don’t raise these questions, and thankfully +1 proves to be a brisk and satisfying ride.
The film revolves around an asteroid smashing into a town which causes ripples in the time space continuum that essentially reverses time over and over. Or it might be that the asteroid creates some sort of dimensional paradox where multiple universes are brought into one. Either way some crazy stuff goes down. The setting of this phenomenon happens to be a giant party filled with wasted highschoolers sporting lowered inhibitions and even lower intelligence.
As this strange occurrence begins to happen, four of the partygoers realize what’s going on and attempt to figure out how to stop it. At least that’s what they should be doing, however most of them seem more concerned about relationships and other high school drama to be bothered by something as mundane as time shifts that create duplicates of themselves.
Rhys Wakefield (The Purge) plays the main protagonist, David, who spends the evening trying to win back his girlfriend after a fight they got into earlier in the day. David uses the time shifts to his advantage to figure out exactly what to say to this girlfriend in order to get forgiveness. Wakefield plays a much more likeable character in this than his role in The Purge, but you’ll still want to punch him in the face.
As the night goes on, the time shifts become closer together and with each shift the doubles get closer to the present, which adds an even more interesting dynamic to the film. Not only are the teens trying to wrap their heads around the fact that there’s a second version of themselves roaming around, but now they have to figure out what will happen once their timelines merge.
Unfortunately, the film’s climax isn’t nearly as satisfying as the premise as a whole, and the finale feels like a fairly big let down. For such a complex story, the end feels overly simplistic and abrupt.
Although it doesn’t rely on special effects too heavily, there is a fair amount of terrible CG in the film as well, however thankfully there is no CG blood, only flaming tennis balls, electricity, and asteroids. The bad CG is forgivable though, considering this is a low budget sci-fi flick and it didn’t detract from the overall experience.
While +1 may not be on the same level as something like Timecrimes or Primer, it’s still a fun little sci-fi film that will certainly generate a lot of questions and discussion. What would you do if you saw a duplicate of yourself walking around? Would you talk to them, make out with them, kill them? Also, if the duplicates appear 15 minutes prior, then why does the passed out guy appear beside his original self? These are some of the many questions that +1 will generate, however it’s best not to ask too many, or else the entire film will unravel and feel much less impressive than at first glance.
