Review : See You Yesterday (2019)
Anyone who has spent roughly ANY amount of time talking movies with me is more than likely aware of my fascination with time travel films. By their root definition, tension is immediately implied and on queue that is not normally present in your standard drama or suspense film. From my first time seeing Back to the Future, I was hooked on time travel films, so it was a given that I would get around to watching See You Yesterday.
C.J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) and her friend Sebastian (Dante Crichlow) are two young inventors with hopes of creating a time machine that will blow away the competition at their upcoming science fair, and possibly fast-track the pair to college. The pair keeps coming close, and have even cracked the issue in theory, but are unable to implement their theory into reality. One day, while C.J. and Sebastian are dealing with a conflict involving C.J.’s ex-boyfriend Jared (Rayshawn Richardson), C.J.’s brother Calvin (Brian ‘Stro’ Bradley) and his friend Dennis (Wavyy Jonez) step in to intervene, and all parties involved leave the bodega where the conflict took place. Moments later, in a case of mistaken identity, Calvin is killed by police due to the cops assuming Calvin and Dennis robbed the bodega. Distraught, C.J. pushes Sebastian to create their invention in order to right the wrong of Calvin’s death, and the duo are successful. By unlocking this power, however, C.J. quickly learns that messing with the past has problems and hurdles that she is not even remotely ready to address.
As a time travel movie, I have to put this one up their with films like Primer and Timecrimes in terms of embracing the stakes that most time travel films stay away from. These stakes would initially feel extreme with the original motivation that C.J. and Sebastian have for creating their machines, but once the ‘death by police’ element presents itself, the motivations shift, thus allowing space for the stakes to raise. Add to this a fog created by C.J. being driven by more and more emotion with each jump, not to mention the fact she is 16, and the errors that occur make complete sense. With each attempt to fix the past, we are presented with more and more heartbreak, adding to our frustration as viewers, which works well in tandem with the standard frustration of keeping the ‘timeilnes’ straight.
With the film taking place in New York, the fact that cultural diversity is embraced is a beautiful detail. Carribean, Jamaican, Domican, Puerto Rican and many more cultures have a strong presence in the film, with at least 3 familial generations shown in some cases. Heroes from all of the cultures can be seen in murals (as well as character names), flags of many of these countries (and more) are peppered throughout the set design, everyone’s accents and colloquialisms are fully embraced, and the neighborhoods that they inhabit pop with color and spirit.
As mentioned before, the production design stands out throughout the film, with high-style sets like the garage and the alley balancing well against down-to-earth sets like the home interiors and the bodega. The camera moves around like a curious bystander in most shots, only raising above our character’s range when the science-fiction elements of the story kick into gear. The virtual-reality depections used during the explanations of the time machines work well stylistically and expositionally. The writing unfolds like a red carpet towards tragedy, dragging us deeper and deeper into the desperate nature of the situation as things spiral more and more out of control.
Eden Duncan-Smith is a lead with firmness, dignity and strength, but not at the expense of a humorous and loving personality, giving her the range and dynamics that many young actors do not display. Her pairing with Dante Crichlow is nearly perfect, as his charisma bursts off the screen from the moment he shows up, and their on-screen chemistry bolsters our connection with the character. Brian ‘Stro’ Bradley provides the big brother presence, giving Duncan-Smith equal parts of a hard-time, sagely advice and space to express herself. Marsha Stephanie Blake and Myra Lucretia Taylor bring the stern supporter and tough love (respectively) motherly aesthetics to the table. Wavvy Jonez and Johnathan Nieves make the most of their brief moments as supportive friends, bringing more humor and texture to the film. Rayshawn Richardson works well as a narrative protagonist, giving enough stress to Duncan-Smith to justify his presence as obstacle to the bigger plans. An appearance by Michael J. Fox immediately brought a smile to my face, and a massive supporting cast of school friends and neighborhood dwellers gives the world more life.
I went into this Netflix original without little to no expectations, but I am happy to announce that their (mostly) positive trend of improving material continues. I did not expect to enjoy this move as much as I did, and I plan on revisiting it sooner than later... possibly even for a post that addresses my fascination with time travel movies.
