★★★★★

Directed by: #AkashSunethkumara

Starring: #IshankaAbeysekara, #VimukthiKiriella, #KrishanthaMendis, #MuthumaliPerera

Short Film Review by: Alexandra James

Temporal takes on the difficult theme of time travel, a confusing yet fascinating subject that makes the audience wonder what they would change in history. Would it be something personal to them or a significant moment which changed the world? For our protagonist Kalpa Keerthisinghe, a physicist working on creating a programme that allows humans to go back in time within five-minute intervals, his only priority is to save his girlfriend who ends up in a tragic accident. However, time travel does not come without its problems, with every movement and every decision we make this can completely alter the reality we know today. For Kalpa, this becomes apparent very quickly and he soon learns about the dangers his actions cause when returning to the past.

This short film focuses on the distant relationship between Kalpa and Nikita (Ishanka Abeysekara). Kalpa is constantly distracted with work, and this creates a large divide between the couple. Nikita wants her boyfriend to meet her friends and to socialise with others, however, Kalpa’s focus is primarily on this project. He is neglectful and naïve, and this ultimately leads to his partners serious accident. The film then focuses on Kalpa using his invention to save his girlfriend. With time travel cinema, it is often very heavily focused on detail, it is always important to have strict continuity. Flash backs to the past and back to the present with the character moving between different dimensions. It is often complicated and problematic because it is crucial to have accuracy when changes occur from the past as they need to be reflected in the future. Director Akash Sunethkumara accomplishes this successfully, the detail within this short is brilliant as everything fits perfectly and feeds into the excitement within the storyline.

With each time Kalpa returns to the past, the scene is filled with intensity and a foreboding ambience. Dangers lie ahead for our protagonist as he attempts to save his loved one. The production for this short created an exhilarating cinematic experience, the audience are also rooting for the character throughout, and we become invested in his mission urging him to keep fighting.

This was a fascinating short film which came with thrills, fear, and action around every corner. It was an extremely entertaining short and flowed exceedingly well, the audience were on the edge of their seat for a lot of the scenes. The characters were very well rounded, and the acting was seamless, which meant that you were able to invest in the story completely.