Anomaly Film Festival Coverage
Timestalker review
Some things, some places, some of the time.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Timestalker
Directed by Alice Lowe
Written by Alice Lowe
Starring Alice Lowe, Jacob Anderson, Nick Frost, Tanya Reynolds, Aneurin Barnard, Boyd Clack, Kate Dickie and Zach Wyatt
Timestalker Review
The 2024 Anomaly Film Festival’s opening feature was Alice Lowe’s Timestalker. It was preceded by an Italian short film named 23 from director Elia Castangia. The short film was a strong thematic fit for what Timestalker had in store later. It tells the story of a woman who quietly stalks a man throughout his life. She relays the stories during a therapy session…considering her actions to be harmless. Her therapist disagrees…and doesn’t understand the full breadth of her intentions. 23 is darker in subject matter than Timestalker is…but there are some surprisingly strong parallels between them.
Timestalker is a not-so-romantic fantasy dramedy with a penchant for decapitations. While not a time travel story…it does see its characters represented in extremely different time periods. A true genre picture. Writer/director Alice Lowe stars as Agnes…a woman with one of the more unique problems you’ll find in cinema. She keeps falling in love with the wrong man across different lifetimes. To deadly consequences.
The movie opens in Scotland circa 1688. Agnes locks eyes with a man (Aneurin Barnard) about to be put to death in the town square. When she attempts to get his attention…she falls headfirst onto a pickaxe and the man escapes in the commotion. We then catch up with Agnes, now an aristocrat in 1793. She sees the same man in the woods through her carriage window…somehow recognizing him from her past life. This version of Agnes is married to a disgusting man (Nick Frost). Despite living a completely different life…things end up the same when she encounters the man of her dreams.
They aren’t the only characters who appear in multiple time periods. Timestalker has a cast of repeating characters…all of whom orbit Agnes in some way. From 1847 to 2117…Timestalker traces Agnes’s attempts to connect with, and discover the secret of, the man in question. The largest portion of the story takes place in 1980. The man is now an English rock star living in New York City. The stop in NYC offers a turning point for Agnes. She begins to understand the truth of her situation. Maybe.
Timestalker presents a tale of reincarnation…that may not be everything it appears to be. Agnes is our constant guide through her lifetimes. She has fleeting memories of past lives…and being Cleopatra for some reason. Lowe is terrific in the role. She breezes through stylish time periods befuddled by her connection, and infatuation, with this strange man. Lowe delivers some great comedic moments of snappy dialog regardless of the era she’s living in.
Timestalker could have easily fallen into the trap of not knowing exactly what genre it wants to serve. It simply chooses all of them…and lets the story’s colorful tone guide it. It has a little bit of everything…but it knows that Agnes is the centerpiece. She anchors us throughout each time and genre. From giant wigs to 80s hair. From wagon wheels to the distant future. Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones, Interview with the Vampire),Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) and Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, Prometheus) are a few of the recurring faces Agnes will find throughout her lifetimes.
It takes Agnes generations to learn and grow. Lowe makes each new era into a unique and entertaining slice of life. Fated to fall in love, and die, for a man who has no interest in her. A man who can’t recall the past encounters the way that she can. How could he? He may be the center of her world…but he barely ever notices her existence. Breaking the pattern proves difficult for Agnes. The heart wants what the heart wants. Even if it unwittingly makes you the titular character.
Scare Value
The Anomaly Film Festival kicked off with a high concept genre spanning film that fits exactly what the festival aims to provide. Unique stories presented by an original voice. Timestalker uses stylish time periods, humor and a great cast to tell the story of a woman struggling to understand that her fate has been in her own hands all along.
