Even not overly convoluted, this temporal-scramble sci-fic is a bit confusing at the beginning. I am therefore giving an outline of the story in a straightforward third-person linear narrative. The movie actually plays out as footage of a hand-held camera, presented as a home-made documentary from one of the two protagonists.
The story starts at the late 1930s with two young women, sisters and orphaned since early childhood, discovering an immense secret - how to capture radio-video wave from the future. They call their machine LOLA, after their mother. Initially treating this as a fun project that allows them to discover ahead of time pop idols such as Bob Dylan, Thomasina ("Thoms") and Martha ("Mars") realize at the onslaught of WWII that they can know ahead the exact time and target of Nazi bomb attacks. They put this foreknowledge to use, broadcasting messages in the name of "Portobello Angels", warning people in the danger zone to stay away. While these broadcast do not change the course of history, as the bombing still takes place, they save many lives.
But then, things escalate as two young soldier track the girls down and succeed in persuading them to take bolder steps. The course of history starts to change, even if not in a large macro scale. For instance, the broadcast headline for tomorrow may originally be "such-a-place is bombarded savagely, causing many casualties". But, with the foursome's intervention, when tomorrow comes, they become "German scheme to bombard such-a-place has been foiled, with most of the German planes shot down". So far so good.
But one day, they find that David Bowie, the future pop idol that the girls have picked up, disappears from the time and place where he is supposed to be. Ditto other future cultural figures that they have become familiar with. Then, all hell break loose as the course of history changes in an alarming way, such as the UK breaking the alliance with the US, and the Germany army landing on British soil. Some in the audience may find the plot twists outlandish. But those who have watched the amazing TV series of "the Man in the High Castle" are unlikely to.
As mentioned, the film packaged as a hand-held camera documentation, assembled from films going back to the time when the protagonists were little girls. The grainy black-and-while filming oozes retro beauty.
Emma Appleton playing Thom and Stefanie Martini as Mars both did splendidly with their respective character, markedly different in persona but sharing the same sibling love, richly fostered as small orphans together.
The story starts at the late 1930s with two young women, sisters and orphaned since early childhood, discovering an immense secret - how to capture radio-video wave from the future. They call their machine LOLA, after their mother. Initially treating this as a fun project that allows them to discover ahead of time pop idols such as Bob Dylan, Thomasina ("Thoms") and Martha ("Mars") realize at the onslaught of WWII that they can know ahead the exact time and target of Nazi bomb attacks. They put this foreknowledge to use, broadcasting messages in the name of "Portobello Angels", warning people in the danger zone to stay away. While these broadcast do not change the course of history, as the bombing still takes place, they save many lives.
But then, things escalate as two young soldier track the girls down and succeed in persuading them to take bolder steps. The course of history starts to change, even if not in a large macro scale. For instance, the broadcast headline for tomorrow may originally be "such-a-place is bombarded savagely, causing many casualties". But, with the foursome's intervention, when tomorrow comes, they become "German scheme to bombard such-a-place has been foiled, with most of the German planes shot down". So far so good.
But one day, they find that David Bowie, the future pop idol that the girls have picked up, disappears from the time and place where he is supposed to be. Ditto other future cultural figures that they have become familiar with. Then, all hell break loose as the course of history changes in an alarming way, such as the UK breaking the alliance with the US, and the Germany army landing on British soil. Some in the audience may find the plot twists outlandish. But those who have watched the amazing TV series of "the Man in the High Castle" are unlikely to.
As mentioned, the film packaged as a hand-held camera documentation, assembled from films going back to the time when the protagonists were little girls. The grainy black-and-while filming oozes retro beauty.
Emma Appleton playing Thom and Stefanie Martini as Mars both did splendidly with their respective character, markedly different in persona but sharing the same sibling love, richly fostered as small orphans together.