LOST TIME (2014)

Studio:       Gravitas Ventures
Director:    Christian Sesma
Writer:       Christian Sesma, Rochelle Vallese, Kenneth Owens
Producer:  Rochelle Vallese, Christian Sesma
Stars:     Rochelle Vallese, Robert Davi, Lin Shaye, Derek Mears, Jenni Blong, Chelsea Ricketts, Vyto Ruginis, Maria Olsen, Luke Goss

Review Score:

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Summary:

When a memory gap results in a missing sister and miraculously cured cancer, a woman begins to suspect that an alien conspiracy might be at work.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Melissa Dreyfuss helps care for her cancer-stricken sister Valerie. Driving together on a dark road one night, a bright light from the sky disables their vehicle. Melissa disappears and Valerie ends up with no memory of what actually happened.

4 Months Later – Valerie’s cancer is inexplicably cured and her hair has rapidly grown back without explanation. Valerie searches tirelessly for her sister, drawing concern from her love interest, Detective Carter.

Valerie attends a lecture by Dr. Xavier Reed, an expert on UFO abductions and the phenomenon of missing time. Valerie makes arrangements to meet Reed at his sanctuary where he works with other alien abduction survivors.

Valerie is greeted at the sanctuary by Nurse Mary and Reed’s associate Mr. Elliot. Despite the facility’s off-putting atmosphere, Valerie reluctantly agrees to participate in Reed’s inpatient therapy program in order to unlock her memory. She meets fellow abductees Eva Sterling, Gillian, Gale, and Rico during a group session.

It is ultimately revealed that Reed, Elliot, and Mary actually belong to the alien species responsible for the human abductions, including those of Valerie and her sister. Reed claims that his dying race is looking for the “God gene,” or what was removed from Adam and Eve before biting the apple in the Garden of Eden. He further claims that Valerie is needed because her genetic code is more advanced than that of the other abductees. Carter arrives at the facility to rescue Valerie, but he is killed by one of the possessed patients.

A Mysterious Woman who previously appeared in Valerie’s dreams then materializes as Valerie confronts Reed. The woman tells Reed that Valerie is under her protection and forces Reed to disappear. After revealing to Valerie that her kind has been watching over Valerie and those like her, she explains the existence of alternate realities and parallel dimensions shaped by a person’s choices. She then rewinds time and puts Valerie in a timeline where Carter is not killed. Valerie and Carter subsequently escape Reed’s sanctuary.

Valerie hosts a rooftop party for Carter and her friends. While alone, Reed unexpectedly appears to Valerie and proposes an exchange of Valerie’s sister for Valerie’s DNA.

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Review:

There are genre movies that bungle things so badly as to be insulting.  One can’t help but watch a train wrecking while imagining the creators mustache twirling and belly laughing about an audience too stupid to notice that no one cared.

That’s not the case here.  “Lost Time” is a different kind of disappointment.  Director Christian Sesma and company made a technically competent film that they can be proud of.  They also made one that cannot be recommended for satisfying entertainment value.  What hobbles this effort isn’t a disregard for filmmaking standards and audience expectations, though.  Rather, it is a slavish dedication to being so strictly conventional that any inkling of personality is sapped by a basic approach to movie production.

Valerie should be thankful that her terminal cancer inexplicably cured itself.  The rapid regeneration of her health and her hair can be traced back to a bright light on a remote road that disabled her car and created a gap in her memory.  Unfortunately, whatever took that “lost time” also took Valerie’s sister.  Now she is obsessed with finding her sibling along with the answers to what happened that fateful night.  And the key to unlocking those secrets lies with a mysterious UFO abduction expert who appears to know more than he lets on.

“Lost Time” has honest intentions in creating alien abduction sci-fi horror.  Those intentions happen to be misguided, too.  Boosted by a bevy of familiar actors and a quality look, the camera is always right where it needs to be, the editing is tight, and everything initially clicks on a surface level.  Yet no matter how polished the appearance is, there remains an underlying feeling of watching an unsure director cautiously dipping toes in play-it-safe waters.  And “Lost Time” never has a chance at peeking its head above a drowning tide of routine.

What’s more typical than showing the passage of time with a driving/walking/traveling montage?  Filling it with flashbacks and setting it to a melancholy pop song.  When time rewinds, a bright flash appears and the subsequent sequence drops into slow motion.  A tear-jerking moment is shot with characters clutching hands in close-up as the soundtrack swells.  A wacky neighbor is added to the cast because, well, everyone else uses wacky neighbors for comic relief, right?

Nothing is poorly done, but the staging is unnecessarily overdramatic.  Every scream is conveyed by an actor’s mouth gaping as widely as possible.  Surprise is sold with eyelids pulled back just as far.  Flair includes character traits such as a villain stroking his restrained victim’s hair like the cat in a Bond villain’s lap while explaining his diabolical scheme.  Performances never quite reach a pitch bordering on camp, though they remain out of control enough to fail at being believable.

“Lost Time” is also not above letting a little vanity weigh it down.  To say that the closing song is out of place for the tone would be an understatement.  The upbeat track would be more fitting for a teen drama on the CW.  Its placement is explained by a songwriting credit for co-star Rochelle Vallese, who also shares credits as a screenwriter, producer, and music supervisor.  Sadly, this is one example where doing a favor for a friend of the film isn’t always in the movie’s best interest.

Initial curiosity in where the plot might be headed balances things until the commitment to routine and overdone theatrics becomes too much to take seriously.  Lead actress Rochelle Vallese’s asthmatic-like bouts of exasperated breathing after a nightmare vision take an annoying tone after the twelfth instance.  Playing a Lurch-like role, Derek Mears delivers dialogue in an accented manner more quizzical than it is chilling.  What it comes down to is a cast given freedom to follow their own directions when a more confident lasso could have wrangled everything together into a more controlled rodeo.

Once act three turns a corner into plot twists seemingly designed for speeding towards a resolution, and away from making sense, “Lost Time” is already buried under a mismanaged formula for making a risk-free film.  It doesn’t come across that the filmmakers are trying to take an easy way out, merely playing it safe to a fault.  “Lost Time” tries too hard to be a conventional sci-fi thriller and not hard enough to speak in its own unique voice.

Review Score:  40

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