‘Timelapse of the Future’: Movie Review

Amateur, but grandiloquent, thoughtful research

Nothing fears me more than the unknown. And frankly, that’s the case for everyone. To dig deeper into this, John Boswell (channel: melodysheep) researched extensively and animated rigorously Timelapse of the Future: A Journey to the End of Time. This experiment’s subject? Space.

The result: this movie is just as wondrous as space itself. Right away from the start, you are presented with Boswell’s iconic, minimalist traits that perfectly clashes with the demonic land and soundscape of the cosmos. The power of tempus fugit is realized, further rushing the adrenaline as the years begin to pass. Though I certainly ignored many things in the movie, I do know for certain that those small details carried me through the entire movie: a grandeur elegy that may or may not happen to our world in the future.

It’s hard to really say the themes of Timelapse. Because it doesn’t have a certain theme; individual viewers perceive its message differently. Many suppose it is trying to make us realize how insignificant we are, and how bigoted bigotry is. Some say this is just a visualization of theories. For me, it could be either, or even beyond that. As we travel through the movie, we travel through various chapters: apocalypse, grief, resurgence, redemption, partyyyy, more destruction, and eventually… not gonna spoil that. Eventually, this is an epic movie about humanity, who we are, what we can be, and what we are not. In so many ways it tests your ego, and I don’t blame it for that.

Although the end will eventually come, we have a practical infinity of time to play with if we play our cards right. The future may look bleak, but we have enormous potential as a species. (Source)

Everything discussed in Timelapse you will imagine as a human figure: you will feel angry at the black hole, feel emotional at the stars. Largely, the animations and extraordinary score play a role, but it’s also the narrations by experts like David Attenborough, Stephen Hawking, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. They aestheticize and explain the events that were shown; other than educational, they ambiently colourize the movie, making it a really immersive museum. When mixing Sully with the Exploratorium, you get this.

My only complaints correspond to many others’: The subtext below the bars are unseeable in widescreen phones, where most would zoom in full screen. Not just that: even in media like TVs, they are placed way below the screen, giving some significant accessibility problems. But what am I saying: this is the first major movie by Boswell, and is meant to only be a YouTube video. Adjust the subtexts to above the bars, and I’ll give it a 100. For now, 99.

GENRE: Documentary, animation
DURATION: 29 minutes
WATCHED ON: YouTube
AGE RATING: 8+
LANGUAGE: English, German, Russian