Revisiting "About Time" and 2013

About once a month I get together with people to explore the ideas and messages of a film, especially as it relates to the truth found in scripture. This month, coming back from the summer break, we weren’t prepared to do an elaborate effort. I was asked to pick a film that we could simply watch. One with a straightforward message. One that didn’t require a lot of work. I remembered seeing (and reviewing) “About Time” a couple months back, and chose that film. I remembered it being a bit convoluted, having some questionable character issues, but as also having a charming and inspiring message.

This second time around, it spoke to me even more. Having seen the film I was not bogged down with the (admittedly only slightly) complicated plot. I was not attempting to make sense of all the time-travel paradoxes. I didn’t get hung up on the questionable (and out of character) moral issues early on.

And I was simply open for the emotional core of the story. The love. The wonderful father character. I really, really liked this movie. A lot.

So much so, that I substantially revised my top films of 2013 list. I knew it was way to early to nail it down when I made it. But I feel fairly confident this will remain my favorite film of the year for quite some time.