"See You Yesterday" seems like one kind of time travel film on the surface and turns out to be another. What could have been an adventure for two prodigies trying to correct an injustice by the police turns into a darker film that's less Back to the Future and more Butterfly Effect. What looks like a PG-13 adventure film is more of a soft R-rated film about geniuses that swear a lot, the neighborhood goons that harass them, and vicious cops and criminals that kill black males repeatedly. It's tonally jarring and it hampers what could have been a good message film. And the film isn't bad, it's got its merits but so much time is spent on executing the plot that we never get a chance to love the characters.
The lead character, C. J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) is a genius engineer but she's so impulsive that it makes you doubt it and we are never given much background around her character to help the audience overlook her worst traits. Her best friend Sebastian (Dante Crichlow) is the likable one, but it's obvious he's mainly here to service the plot from the moment we start time traveling. I wanted to like this film and these characters but their decisions are so irrational at times that it hurts your ability to connect or care about them.
I give a lot of leeway to time travel stories, as there are always logic holes, so I'll give this film the same luxury. This film breaks from most time travel lore while still trying to embrace what the creators assume the audience already understands. So this is the weakest aspect of the film. The dialogue at times is also forced. In an attempt to sell the films message, there's a lot of lines delivered like they were stolen right off a social justice T-shirt. I have no problem with social messaging; I think it's important that films capture the era we live in for historical value. Just make the dialogue feel authentic instead of like a series of slogans.
The film is produced (not directed) by Spike Lee, so the heavy dose of Brooklyn culture was to be expected but this time, it felt forced and misguided for this film at times. Instead of the culture arising in organic ways, it's thrown at us in was that makes you think the writer didn't grow up there. This film misses the mark in so many ways that it saddens me. There were clearly a lot of gifted actors in this film. The cinematographer is clearly talented. But the direction of this film is all over the place as the film fails to understand it's tone or target audience.
The lead character, C. J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) is a genius engineer but she's so impulsive that it makes you doubt it and we are never given much background around her character to help the audience overlook her worst traits. Her best friend Sebastian (Dante Crichlow) is the likable one, but it's obvious he's mainly here to service the plot from the moment we start time traveling. I wanted to like this film and these characters but their decisions are so irrational at times that it hurts your ability to connect or care about them.
I give a lot of leeway to time travel stories, as there are always logic holes, so I'll give this film the same luxury. This film breaks from most time travel lore while still trying to embrace what the creators assume the audience already understands. So this is the weakest aspect of the film. The dialogue at times is also forced. In an attempt to sell the films message, there's a lot of lines delivered like they were stolen right off a social justice T-shirt. I have no problem with social messaging; I think it's important that films capture the era we live in for historical value. Just make the dialogue feel authentic instead of like a series of slogans.
The film is produced (not directed) by Spike Lee, so the heavy dose of Brooklyn culture was to be expected but this time, it felt forced and misguided for this film at times. Instead of the culture arising in organic ways, it's thrown at us in was that makes you think the writer didn't grow up there. This film misses the mark in so many ways that it saddens me. There were clearly a lot of gifted actors in this film. The cinematographer is clearly talented. But the direction of this film is all over the place as the film fails to understand it's tone or target audience.
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