Suspension (I) (2008) User Reviews

Not expected timing

[cvandeplas · 6/10 · 31 May 2008]

Of all the movies I saw concerning extraordinary powers this one approaches the story using another angle. The others are usually more the American style or action movies with many special effects, explosions and of course the necessary love-story. In contrary this one is just different. No fancy explosions, no real action scenes. At some time you could feel a kind of little stress in compassion for certain people, but the slowness of the movie compensates. The 'stop time' principle is really linked to very slow and relaxing moments with soft, slow music.

The story itself is not really spectacular, the image quality neither. If you have nothing special this movie I could consider it as 'an option'.

Oddly appealing, in spite of its flaws.

[innocuous · 6/10 · 20 January 2009]

I gave this movie an extra star simply for having the guts to avoid any simple explanation of why (or if) a camcorder can stop time. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the camcorder is not really critical to the plot, except in the way that it reflects the yearning and distress of the lead character. My own guess is...no, it didn't stop time. It wouldn't make a substantial difference if it actually did.

Unlike some reviewers, I did not find this film to be at all boring, or even slow-paced. It progresses with its own rhythm based on the process of grieving.

I also found a lot of reasons to be sympathetic to the two survivors. (I'm about the same age as the main character and I lost my wife two years ago.) The portrayal of the depth of his loss, and the loss of a sense of direction and purpose is accurate. (I simply had to move out of our house after my wife died. I didn't move to an abandoned hospital, but I do understand how that could make perfect sense to someone.)

The FX are quite good, though not anything groundbreaking. A couple scenes, particularly ones with the tennis balls, are not very good, but they are acceptable in an indie flick like this.

Overall, I enjoyed it. The filmmakers exhibited a lot of restraint and left much unsaid.

Like An Abstract Painting...

[sk-156 · 6/10 · 25 December 2008]

I just finished watching this movie, and I don't want to make it sound like I had an epiphany or anything, but I had a few moments of thoughts about it which changed the way I looked at this movie.

On the surface this movie sounds like a Sci-Fi thriller of some sort a la "Deja-vu", and those who approach it as such will be very disappointed. You can not get wrapped up in the "science" of the movie, and I thought in a way the writer/director etc. dealt with that by omitting to even attempt at some lame explanation of how and why this man or the camera was able to stop time. Because guess what? It is not possible! ;-)

You have to look at this movie the same way you look and at abstract painting. If you are looking at a portrait painted by a cubist painter, you are not going to say "What the hell? That does not look like any person I know!" You have to accept it as an interpretation of reality. The whole stoppage of time is a tool used to demonstrate the characters descent into his obsession with Sarah and the subsequent actions.

Having said all this, this movie is by no means a masterpiece. But if you approach it knowing that it is not your regular sci-fi flick, you may give it more of a chance and not be disappointed by it. I thought the acting was pretty good (specially from actors that were not familiar to me). The story line and specially the ending leaves a lot to be desired, but it was still worth watching.

The plot basically seemed to have grown out of perhaps a short story (in fact I wrote something similar when I was in high school) and was not properly nourished and matured. Perhaps in the hands of a better writer, it could have been much better...

Amazing indie science fiction film

[alyIMDB · 17 March 2008]

I feel like it's tough to find really good, smart science fiction sometimes, so it was an incredibly satisfying experience to see this film at a screening in LA. The story is both contemplative and very intense, with characters who draw you in emotionally even as you become horrified by the events that are playing out. The cinematography is beautiful, and the visual effects are simple, elegantly planned out, and just executed extremely well. They alternately creep you out and give you a sense of wonder and adventure as the main character discovers he can do extraordinary things. The story moves along at a good pace - taking its time in all the right places, leaving you tense and unsettled in others. Overall, well worth taking the time to seek out and watch.

Good in theory, poor execution

[sdrogue · 5/10 · 5 June 2008]

Okay, so I watched this just to watching something non-big studio and I can enjoy it for that...however, I just kept getting knocked back by the inconsistent logic of the script and the blatant abuse of physics in regards to both DV cameras and batteries....worse than Cloverfield.... It was shot well, the acting was fine, the sound was good, the score was good...all those elements, all those variables were in place....but there was no "why" to the equation of why the hero was acting the way he was acting.... 1. he loses his family 2. he starts obsessing on the other girl involved in the accident 3. he kidnaps her as part of his obsession....

okay, so he lost his family and substitutes this girl for the family he lost, fortunately, she is cute and perky, not gross looking, so we as an audience can understand his behavior, although it's slack casting to create a girl that ANYONE would start liking if they lost the rest of their family..no challenge there

But the continued plot device of the camera switching out of pause mode...okay, we get it, why doesn't he? Why not take more than two batteries...take ten...

and man, that guy left finger prints everywhere....

I get the story, he loses it after his family dies and needs a "new family"...but he does it in a creepy way of stalking the girl....and it had to be THAT girl because she was the one involved in the accident.... However, if all he wanted was to be around her, why push it any further? He could have lived out his days hanging out with her

DoI recommend it? Yeah, it has a lot of good qualities...just not enough energy.....a good thing to learn never to do is have people talk on the phone for a long time....just no reason to and it slows down the film....

Would I watch another film by these filmmakers? Absolutely

I don't know why exactly, but I kinda liked it

[bwdude · 7/10 · 16 December 2008]

Most of the comments here are true. Yes, it CAN be seen as boring. Yes, the acting is not the best. Yes, the plot has it's holes.

However, the ones who praise it also have their point.

I for one really enjoyed it. It may be for the unique twist to having "superpowers" like stopping time. Someone else called it "not a science fiction movie, but a character study". And that is certainly true.

I would have been disappointed, had I expected an action-laden superhero-movie with lots of surprises and SFX.

Without these expectations, I am really glad to have seen it. Certainly not for everyone, but if you saw "The Quiet Earth" and liked it, this one is a must!

What would you do if you could stop time?

Creepy ... unintentionally?

[mib-29 · 3/10 · 8 June 2008]

This movie is creepy and I don't think it is intentionally. While the movie is well done (good cinematography, directing and acting), the script seems to me a little bit off. Here you have a guy that looses his family in a car crash and gains the power to stop time through the pause button on a camcorder (no logical explanation ever given in the movie why and how), all he does with his new found powers is to stalk the woman of the other victim in the car crash. And this is where the movie becomes really creepy because she clearly doesn't want his advances. The movie becomes then this really strange action/psycho flick, that I don't think was ever truly the intention of the makers. Or maybe it was? To me the writing in this movie really sucks because there is no clear idea or concept or story line that makes sense. If you make the movie about a man loosing his family in a car crash who then gains the power to stop time, you develop the story with the context of a man trying to fix the past or someone trying to prevent others from experiencing similar traumas (in the movie the main character does try to help others, but always with catastrophic results. The writer/director could have just explored this and the movie would have been fine). Or they could have made the entire movie just about the abuse of power ... in that case the car crash would not have been a necessary element. Or the movie could have been about how you protect yourself from somebody who has these powers and is after you. In that case the movie could have been set in the future where that kind of power might be available (of course only in the movies). Bottom line: there are three stories wrapped up in one movie and that is what makes it so bad. I don't think this movie is worth watching other than for the special effects, which I have seen however in other movies before. And now that I think of it, it almost seems to me that the idea for the movie was developed because of the special effect. That would explain the weakness of the script and the hodge podge of ideas.

Not 2001: A Space Odyssey, but....

[ophelia_hardin · 7/10 · 23 February 2009]

It makes for nice Twilight Zone episode. I think the guys who did it deserve some credit for the story and the storytelling. There's certainly nothing wrong with it and I don't know if a bigger budget would have helped all that much. The lack of it isn't in evidence, which is also to their credit.

What you've got is a supernatural premise and its conclusions; competently acted, shot, edited and scored. It's got a theme, a style, decent characterization and a compelling plot. Nothing more, nothing less.

There are far worse ways to spend 98 minutes and I enjoyed it. Rod Serling would be proud. In a word: sweet.

In one word, boring.

[synphonic · 1/10 · 22 June 2008]

I wasn't expecting much about this movie, but I wasn't expecting it to be as bad either. I just finished watching the movie and I came here to read what other people had to say and, to my surprise, others claim to have enjoyed it... So, after dragging myself through the movie I just felt the urge to create an account in IMDb leave my comment. The movie is slow, the plot makes little sense and the ending is very disappointing. It's about a guy who loses his family in a car crash and then finds out he's got a camcorder which can stop time. What?! Plus, this is never given any sort of explanation, anything that would make any sense. I wasn't looking for a scientific argument, just some sort of reasoning behind the plot. From that point onwards, the movie just keeps going down (very, very slowly). Really, a total wast of time. You'll do yourself a favor by skipping this one.

Good Enough to Entertain but not Perfect

[silent_phantasm · 7/10 · 12 June 2011]

I watched this movie because I am interested in the concept of stopping time but unfortunately, the only other movie I know of exploring this concept is cashback. Wanting to see something with actors who had an American accent however, I picked up this movie to watch. When finished, I found myself saying "Meh, could have been better." Still, I wanted to see what others thought of the movie and jumped onto IMDb and having disagreed with their reviews, I found myself writing this one.

So, if you're on the fence about whether or not watch this film, I would say it has a few plot problems, actors were good and believable but could have been better, and the overall movie was emotional and very slow moving. I would also tell you that you won't want to watch it more than once and you won't want to watch this if you want things explained or want a fairy tale ending (despite it's somewhat sci-fi-esque premise).

Personally, I didn't set any expectations before watching the film and to me, the movie was slow. Though it was done purposely to convey a message and to accentuate the general tone of the movie, I would argue that there were just too many occasions that I thought, "Come on... hurry up." I know it was just trying to communicate the same message in different ways (probably on the notion that different viewers would receive the same message best in a different way) but I got restless at times.

Speaking of communication, the plot is not spoon-fed to you and you will be guessing from time to time with hit-or-miss results. In some places it is a good thing because you think "Oooo... I wonder what they'll do next!" You might get disappointed with the result though... Otherwise, there are a few plot holes that go unexplained. It's fine but at some point, you just need (or want) a little bit more.

Which brings me to my next critique, the acting. The actors were likable and for the first 80% of the movie and you really sympathize with the main protagonists but you just wanted to continue liking them and believing them that little 20% more. Don't get me wrong, they were believable and well-developed. Tragedy, loss... it's not unusual for the characters to have done what they did and coped in the way that they did. What I am trying to say though is that your perceptions of the characters will probably change however, but another possibility is that you will disregard their actions that do not fall in line with your preexisting bias. If you read some of the other reviews this comes out pretty clearly. Regardless of your opinion, there will be scenes where the actors slip or just do something that takes you out of the magic and ambiance of the movie entirely.

Overall, I would say the movie was good. You won't want to watch it more than once, but not watching it might be a mistake. It will not be raunchy or perverse or action-packed like what you may expect but bear in mind it's a movie that explores the "Hey, what if..." concept in reality. So will you like this movie? If you don't like movies without fairy tale endings, probably not. Even if you like movies that allow you to think for yourself though, I believe you will finish this movie still craving something more.

Okay... Reading the titles of the reviews here sort of sums it up...

[lathe-of-heaven · 5/10 · 21 January 2010]

Well, first off seeing that the writer / producer (director?) of the film took the time to answer someone's post here about stopping time, I can see that they clearly are taking a real interest in what people are saying, which is great. First and foremost, this was an excellent idea! Overall, the mood, feel, and direction, not to mention the acting (which I would expect to suffer in a film like this) was of high caliber and well handled, except... And here comes the painful part and I will try very hard not to give away anything too specific in discussing this. Guys... the turn the film took when he went into the other guy's house... Come ON now!!??? For Goodness sake...! Talk about taking a truly beautiful concept that was handled in a totally lovely way and then about 3/4 the way through completely destroying it. I'm sorry guys, really...

Okay... I think I'm gonna hafta mark spoilers here to make my point...

***** SPOILERS AHEAD *****

All right, you have this delightful, tender, gentle, poignant, touching, moving story going (I think you get my point) and then what you do when he goes into the guys house is SUCH a total dead end, so TOTALLY unnecessary and COMPLETELY divergent from the entire mood and direction of the film that you had taken ALL this time to set up beforehand! I mean, our sympathies are completely with the guy and you worked it quite BEAUTIFULLY up to there. So, I'm thinking, 'Ah, I bet I know what's gonna happen; he's gonna go inside this guy's house and find out that he is like a serial killer or something like that and THEN he will hafta figure out a way to warn her and you have all this GREAT excitement and THRILLING stuff they go through, and then they end up at least as friends together or whatever in this wondrous new world of theirs.'

*** END SPOILERS ***

Uh... No... that WOULD have been awesome! To me, THAT would have been a perfect and satisfying way to resolve the story; the audience would have come away feeling like 'Wow, what a great idea and a lovely film!'

WHY oh WHY on Earth did you take it in that direction and just have it turn into this, forgive me, stupid ending with him just coming across now as some kind of idiot weirdo. Really...? Your ENTIRE ending rests completely on a TOTALLY unintentional, almost comical ACCIDENT...??!!! And that is what you based that whole last part of the film on...??? GEEZ guys, I cannot even BEGIN to express how disappointing that was. I honestly think that in doing that with the story, it really left you feeling COMPLETELY empty and like, 'Oh, that's it...?'

So, for me personally, that destroyed, torched, and ruined the whole thing. It made the difference between keeping the film and tossing it. I'm really sorry, I truly do not mean to be unkind, but I want you to KNOW how passionately I feel about this. I have seen I don't know thousands and thousands of films and I honestly cannot think of another movie off hand that built the first 3/4 so beautifully and then threw it away senselessly like that, Not one...

I would LOVE to know why the Makers of this film took the story in that particular direction when you seemed to be pointing everyone in a much different one. I mean it was so tender and touching the way he was trying to help her and reach out to her and connect with her, etc. It just doesn't make ANY sense at all, it truly doesn't. It is quite frustrating when you think of how much BETTER the story could have turned out... That is why I only gave the film a 5 because of the direction it took and the ending; otherwise I think I would have given it at least an 8 or more...

Different movie, requires different taste

[sobeit712 · 8/10 · 25 July 2008]

This movie is not a science fiction, it is actually a character study. It explore the dark side of a man's emotion and obsession.

A man lost his family during a car accident gained a special power through a camcorder. It may not be the most logical idea for a science fiction, but the point here is not about the stupid video camera that got some people here so wrapped up about. forget about the video camera, it's only an vehicle. How about the man had gained the power to suspend time by snapping his fingers? Would you be more happy about that? Human's ignorance have no bound. If you demand logic so much, try explain gravity. Can you? Guess not. How about trying to explain the concept of time, even physicists can not agree on that. What is time exactly? Huh? Good luck explain that. I bet no two people can come up with the exact same answer.

Let's just say that through the event of accident, it seems that this man had discovered a crack on reality as we know. He goes in and out of this crack through a device (stupid camcorder again).

What this movie is really about is the things goes on inside this man's head. What really goes through a man's head after a traumatic event? Have you ever lost all your family in a split second? Guess not. But some reviewer here seem to have a very strong opinion on how should a man grief. And then some other reviewer even go as far as saying that this is not the way this man should use his super power. Are you this man? Do you have super power? How do you know how he suppose to use this super power? So he didn't use his super power in a typical Hollywood blockbuster style, and you got angry and think this doesn't make any sense. Do you know how shallow you all sounded like? A movie finally breaks away from Hollywood cliché of super heroes or super villain, the audience can't take it! More Hollywood cliché please!!! Someone complains that this movie is creepy. It suppose to be creepy! Have you seen Saw? Isn't that creepy? No no no, this is even more creepy than saw. Right... you guys need help. Most of Hollywood's horror movie simply glorify violence and gore to the point of perversion. Now here we have a guy who's not one dimensional, and you all got confused. This guy is actually never intentionally evil, he's just obsessed. He's actually a very sweet guy that willing to die for his love, he just did it in a wrong way. He's more human like than most of the other movie characters I've seen. He may be a creep, but he's a real creep, not your typical Hollywood creep who also turn out to be Satan himself. Typical American mentality: A movie character is either 100% good or 100% evil. Now we have an emotionally vulnerable and sometime confused individual, you all all of a sudden can't seem to relate to that anymore. Reality check: WE ARE ALL VULNERABLE, CONFUSED AND DOWNRIGHT HELPLESS MOST OF TIMES! Unless you are not a real human being.

In the game of love, who had really figured out the right way? Did you? There's another reviewer complains that it defies logic that he falls for her. Can you really explain love??? Like your love is all very well calculated and makes perfect sense. I doubt that's real love. It has to be a very boring one regardless.

In the end, how should a man deal with his loss? How could you know how he suppose to deal with his loss? In this movie, we are presented with a character who channeled all of his emotion towards a self destructing tragic end. Was that less appropriate than the text book of dealing with tragic? If you want the text book version, go talk to a shrink or read up a pamphlet or something.

Here we are given a chance to peek inside the dark abyss of a man's emotion. It can be scary, it can be uncomfortable, it can be creepy. Who's mind isn't? Who doesn't have little dark corner here and there? Has it nothing but eternal sunshine of spotless mind? I doubt it! I seriously doubt it. You know you had thoughts and dark secrets and unexplainable desire and obsessions that you can't tell anyone about it. Here the director is brave enough to let it out in the open, through whatever vehicle he uses, right in front of our naked eyes.

The raw emotion rings true, though it may strike a few nerves.

Frozen in Time

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 15 May 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Film about time suspension involving this magical camcorder that can freeze time at the click of it's pause button. How this camcorder got these amazing powers is never really explained it only seemed to have gotten them when it and it's owner Daniel Bennett, Scott Cordes, survived a fatal traffic accident that cost the lives of three people. Daniel's wife teenage son and the driver of the pick-up truck that caused , by running a stop sign, the accident!

As things turned out time stopped when Daniel accidentally pressed the pause button on his camcorder just at the moment of impact which in effect saved his life before he was to go head first through the car's windshield. It wasn't until later after repairing the damaged camcorder that Daniel started to realize the amazing power that it possessed. The one thing that Daniel really wanted to possess and soon became obsessed with was the pick-up tucks dead driver's wife Sarah Kane, Annie Tedesco, who's picture just happened to be on her husbands cellphone the moment that he ran head first into Daniel's car! In fact it was Mr. Kane's call to Sarah that distracted him from keeping his eyes on the road and lead to he fatal car smash-up!

Daniel at first is very kind and helpful to Sarah in dropping a law suite against her dead husband's estate in him causing the accident that save her home from being foreclosed in paying the lawsuit off. It's only later when Daniel started to get the hots for the very pretty 7th grade school teacher Sarah that things started to go downhill for him and everybody else who had anything to do with her especially Sarah's boyfriend fellow elementary school teacher Josh Werlitt. As his obsession for Sarah grew worse Daniel started to use his camcorder to freeze her in time and then take advantage of her while she was stuck in suspended animation. Daniel also took the time to get even with Josh whom he felt was a threat to his relationship, strange as it was, to Sarah by freezing him in place with his magic camcorder and then pummeling him to the point that when he was unfrozen, at the click of the camcorders pause button, he died from massive internal bleeding!

In his spear time when he wasn't stalking Sarah Daniel spent his idle hours freezing time so he could pick pocket and rob people of their cash, while being frozen stiff, to pay off his bills. The very sexually charged up, in him knowing he can get away with it, Daniel also spend endless hours in womens clothing department stores changing booths watching young and busty women change and try on womens undergarments. That while at the same time he was stealing expensive clothes for Sarah who with the little money she made as a grade school teacher could hardly afford!

***SPOILERS*** Daniel's strange obsession with Sarah started to get out of hand when he used his power of stopping time to try to get romantic with her that she, as a women being abused, frozen in time or not could easily sense! It's when Daniel, by now crazed with lust, tried to really get it on with Sarah that she turned the tables, or the pause button, on him. In fact it was Daniel not Sarah who in the end did himself in by realizing that his little gizmo's, the magical camcorder, actions had caused far more trouble then it was worth that he himself let it, by not trying to get out of the way of a runway wheelchair, finish him off and end all this misery once and for all times.

Check this out if you can find it.

[larrywilliams-43936 · 9/10 · 22 February 2022]

The box cover boasts that "Suspension" (Lightyear, 2008) won an award at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival - not exactly an Oscar, but the film is top-notch. Its premise: Daniel discovers he can stop time by hitting Pause on his son's video camera. The first time it happens, Daniel's son has the camera in the back seat of the car. A head-on collision kills everyone except Daniel, who sits, mystified and horrified, in a freeze-frame of the instant of impact. Daniel is able to get out of the car and walk around the collision. Subsequently he meets Sarah, the widow of the other driver, and becomes infatuated. He stops time so he can be with her. He sneaks into her home to do her favors like making repairs. That's kind of cute, but Daniel's behavior becomes more and more creepy. And Sarah, though stopped in time, can vaguely see him. The two leads, Scott Cordes and Annie Tedesco, are terrific in beautifully written roles, real people acting believably in bizarre circumstances. The "3-D stop time" (as it's called) effects are amazing, as Daniel walks among figures in a real-life diorama. Not rated.