The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things(Amazon Prime)
Starring Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen.
Directed by Ian Samuels
Rating: **
No sillier film have I seen in recent times. Unless we consider that other loopy time-loop inanity Palm Spring.What’s with this fixation on getting caught in a time-loop? We saw the theme being handled with a vestige of panache during old times when in Groundhog Day (1996) day Bill Murray found himself reliving the same same day over and over again. Now during the frozen monotony brought on by the Covid when every day does seem the same to a lot of people,given the milieu of inescapable confinement , an airy frorthy time-loop film seems like cruel joke, the ‘joke’ being on those who sat together to concoct this breezy plum pudding posturing as a solemn take on time and existence.
At the most The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things is one of those watch-and-forget flicks that promise some ruminative moments in a milieu of blithe banter and giddyheaded romance as two time-loop victims(if we may call them victims, as we have no idea how much they enjoy reliving the same day over and over again in a film as monotonous as its theme) meet and…well.. you now the rest.
Mark and Margaret, as played by Kyle Allen and Kathryn Newton, are seen to share an affinity for same-day monotony. I don’t know how it works for them.For me watching them scamper through a day of idle do-gooding in a town that looks like it could do with some excitement, is sheer indolence .But the two actors specially Miss Newton, are easy on the eyes if not as breezy with their lips as they would like to be.
The film wears a heavy air of monotonous selfindulgence . It keeps making references to time-loop films just to remind us that this film is not afraid of being called out for ennui.Towards the last loop of storytelling the going gets heavyhanded with Mark’s Dad issues amd Margaret’s Mom issues colliding in a constellation of quick-fix crisis.
There is no dramatic tension in this film. Everything seems pre-ordained including the final skip out of the time-loop.The film suffers from an absence of seriousness and an excess of self-importance. They want us to forget Groundhog Day.But every failed jibe at time’s vicissitudes reminds us of that other time-loop classic. Watch that instead.