“Our Time Is Up” Review
Our Time Is Up is a short film written and directed by Rob Pearlstein. It was nominated for best live action short film in the 2005 Academy Awards. The film tells the story of a therapist, Dr. Leonard Stern, played by Kevin Pollak. The therapist is stuck in his everyday routine, listening to patients but not directly helping them, when he gets a call saying he has six weeks to live. His life becomes much less put together and he tries a different approach with his patients: honesty. Instead of listening to his patients complain about their lives and calmly telling them things will get better “in due time,” he flat out tells them what’s wrong with them or forces them to face their fears. In the end the doctor finds that this strategy is much more effective.
Overall, I thought the film was mostly good. Though the plot was not anything particularly original or profound, the cinematography and soundtrack made it feel like an important movie and the comedy written into the screenplay made it enjoyable to watch. It was well casted, well acted, and well directed. It was pleasant, but not revolutionary.
The weakest point of the film was the plot. The “man has six weeks to live” story is a little overdone and the way this man chose to spend his last six weeks was a little unbelievable. It would not be unusual to think that someone with six weeks to live would quit his job and go do something he actually enjoys for once. Instead, after taking about one day to process the news, Dr. Stern chooses to continue working with his patients, though he clearly does not get joy out of it. Though the plot was weak, the screenplay saved it. The screenplay added funny moments and great lines, such as “soap removes the bacteria from other things, but what removes the bacteria from soap?” said by Dr. Stern’s germ-phobic patient. Each of the patients had their own problems, and they were all somewhat comedic. With just the story of a man having six weeks to live and deciding to be honest for once, it probably would have been a boring film, but the screenplay brought in comedy that made it enjoyable.
Along with the screenplay making it funny, the actors helped to nail the comedy. It would have been easy for the actors to take the jokes too far or overact their characters. For instance, the germ-phobic woman could easily have played her character more violently, yelling and screaming about her fears, but she had her character sitting uncomfortably, seemingly jittery with anxiety about germs. Had she played it differently, it could have bordered seeming fake or more forced, but she acted it just right for it to be believable, and hilarious.
Short films tend to be very artsy, and Our Time Is Up was not an exception. The cinematography style was interesting, but not unexpected for a short film. I do not know how to describe the repetitiveness and slow camera shots besides “artsy,” but it’s the kind of art that only works for a short film—for a full length film, it would get irritating. This is not to say that full length films cannot be considered art the way that short films are; it’s just that short films are condensed versions, so the art feels more compacted and noticeable. For example: Our Time Is Now opens by showing that Dr. Stern has everything placed in a specific spot. It shows his shoes set out ready for the week, perfectly polished. It shows his shirts hanging in the closet, perfectly ironed, with their hangers at exactly the same distance apart from each other. It shows that he goes out to get the newspaper every morning right as it’s being thrown. These are all things that subliminally tell the audience this doctor is living in a set routine with everything in order. The shots repeat to show days going by, which is an effective cinematography technique. After Dr. Stern discovers that he is sick, the shots continue, and as time to goes on things are less in order. His shoes are not placed exactly right, shirts are missing or wrinkled, he misses the newspaper several days in a row. This shows viewers that he is distressed, even though he continues to work.
The costumes also help to tell the story. Dr. Stern’s clothing is all perfectly ironed at the beginning of the movie. The straightness of it all helps to show that he is a man who cares about his looks. As time passes and he gets closer to death, he does not even put his clothes on anymore, but stays in his bathrobe. His hair also shows that he is losing grip, because he starts out with it always perfectly gelled down, but at the end it is a mess. There is also a slight change for some of the characters’ costumes. For example: in her first two scenes, the germ-phobic woman is wearing very covering clothing; a turtle neck, a shirt buttoned to the top. The third time she is shown, when she is starting to conquer her phobia, her neck is no longer covered. These small clothing differences are not necessary but they help with the overall feeling of the film. Little changes provide subliminal clues and show the art of costuming.
The soundtrack also adds a lot to the feel of the movie. It begins with eerie music that leaves the audience wondering what type of film it is. As the comedy comes in, so does comedic music. It ends again with the eerie music, which makes the realness of the concept of Dr. Stern dying stand out. But when the credits roll, it plays the comedic music again, to help make the audience feel like it was a joyful film. The alternation of eerie and comedic music keeps the theme strong and the feeling fun.
There were many technical devices used in the film, which showed that it was definitely a work of art. Though the plot may have been somewhat unoriginal, the small details brought in through the screenplay, cinematography, costuming, acting, and soundtrack helped to make it unique and enjoyable.
