I’ve been thinking a lot about time travel lately, not just because going through old photographs, there are some haircuts I need to go back and have a serious conversation with myself on, but regarding how films have been so successfully redefining the genre and putting unique spins on what had become a staid set-up.  Recent releases like Omni Loop and My Old Ass have found intriguing angles into moving around within the time continuum without cheating (much), emerging as winning examples of thinking caps being worn to their flashiest potential.

The ever-evolving world of sci-fi time travel thrillers gets a new star with Things Will Be Different as it crashes into the cosmos like a time-warping fever dream.  I had no idea what to expect with this one; like most recent films, I opted not to watch a trailer or read much in advance outside of the basic summary, but I was so pleased to find writer/director Michael Felker’s directorial debut carving out its place in the universe.  I’ve since seen the movie described as a mixture of Looper and Blood Simple, and those comparisons are on target. However, Felker’s narrative is so twisted and ambitiously singular that it demands you stay alert and strap in for a wild ride.

Estranged siblings Joseph (Adam David Thompson, Glass) and Sidney (Riley Dandy, Christmas Bloody Christmas) have cleared 7 million dollars from a robbery and now need a place to hide out until the heat has died down.  For the first fifteen minutes, Felker is cagey about where the siblings are headed and why, but eventually, we come to a farmhouse Joseph was told about, a remote location with a remarkable secret.  Following instructions involving clocks and a mysterious closet, the siblings enter the small space and exit the same farmhouse at a different time.  It’s an alternate timeline created as a safe place where the two can relax and count their cash until they are ready to return.

Of course, there’s a catch.  To navigate the shifting realities, they must follow strict instructions or risk being trapped.  When it’s time to leave, they find that they were never supposed to be there in the first place.  The group that created this space isn’t too happy about their presence but needs their help for a task only the siblings can complete.  Get it done, and they can leave, fail, and answer to a crew that doesn’t treat interlopers very nicely.  They have no idea when their loyalty will be tested but will remain on high alert until they’re safely back in their correct time zone.  As time passes and their task fails to appear, the siblings grow weary of one another, bringing up bruises from the past that still sting.

Even when it shifts from nervy tension to family drama, Felker expertly anchors the action within the claustrophobic confines of the farmhouse, building tension with every creak of the floorboard and flicker of light.  In a way, the audience is challenged to live alongside the siblings during their pseudo-imprisonment. Felker’s limiting of the setting to one location works brilliantly to magnify every twist he introduces and heighten the stakes.  Eventually, Things Will Be Different takes on the characteristics of a cerebral rollercoaster, brimming with high-concept big ideas to challenge your perceptions of reality. In all honesty, it’s the type of movie that may require multiple viewings to unravel fully, but for fans of mind-bending sci-fi, the challenge is half the fun.

Dandy delivers a standout performance as a woman caught between her survival instincts and loyalty to her sibling.  She has a child waiting for her outside, making a better life for the two of them is why she sought the money to begin with, and the trauma of her past threatens to cloud her judgment in the current situation the longer she stays in the separate timeline.  Meanwhile, Thompson’s shifting motivations keep us guessing as he teeters between confidence and desperation.  Is he as clueless as his sister, or is she right to suspect he got them into this mess on purpose?  Both actors elevate the story into something more personal and dynamic, their verbal sparring matching the intensity of the strange events around them.

Good buzz has followed Things Will Be Different since it premiered at SXSW in March, and it’s not hard to see why.  The intricate detail of the storytelling is exciting, but it can also be a double-edged sword.  Like It’s What’s Inside, another mind-melter, its audacious approach may leave some viewers scrambling to keep up.  The dismantling of time can make you feel like you’re putting a puzzle together, knowing you don’t have all the pieces to create a complete picture.  While the logic is sound on closer inspection, you wish the narrative didn’t barrel ahead at such a breathless pace at critical junctures.

Saying that may sound disingenuous, but Things Will Be Different is undeniably exhilarating.  If your mind isn’t delightfully twisted in knots by the end, you didn’t get the full experience.  Even if it may lose itself in its own fractured puzzle box at particular moments, the attention it demands of you as the viewer winds up giving you a rewarding opportunity to assemble it in whole and marvel at the detailed map staring back at you.