About Time

[School of Movies 2021]

Richard Curtis has only directed three films in his career. Usually he relegates himself to writing and producer roles, and you can always tell when you're watching one of his movies. Certain recurring character types and themes keep re-emerging.

The first directed was Love Actually, the second The Boat That Rocked, but this third and reputedly final effort is genuinely a cut above everything that came before. It's not without its issues, as we will go into on the show. Painfully British, painfully white, painfully upper-middle-class, and imbued with an adoring yet patronising view of woman.

But it has a huge heart. It's a time travel story that really gets how the philosophy underpinning its story can absolutely apply to our own lives, devoid of quantum physics. It also has one of cinemas all-time best Dads in it, in the shape of Bill Nighy. So we recruited the same time travel expert who helped me with my own book on that tricky subject, to help us discuss what about this film works so well.

Guest

Jesse Ferguson @TheDapperDM

from the Recorded Tomorrow Podcast