Prime Time: The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

I do enjoy a good time-loop movie, and it's a film sub-genre that tends to have many more great examples than poor ones. In fact, at this exact moment I cannot think of one time-loop movie that I haven't enjoyed.

Oh, The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things is a time-loop movie. That's only a spoiler if you knew nothing about this film other than the title. The very first moments make clear that this is a time-loop movie, showing Mark (Kyle Allen) going about his day with the confidence and skill of someone who has been through the familiar motions many times before. He doesn't know why he is reliving the same day over and over again, he just knows that he's the only person aware of the situation. Until he realises that he isn't. Yes, there is one other. That person is Margaret (Kathryn Newton). Once they realise that they are both anomalies stuck in an . . . anomaly, well, they start to think up ways to pass the time. And that is when they come up with the idea of a map of tiny perfect things.

The second feature film from director Ian Samuels, this is a big step up from his previous feature, Sierra Burgess Is A Loser. I am willing to say that the difference in quality stems from the script, written by Lev Grossman, adapting his own short story. It's fun without striving to be too funny, emotional and complex without bringing everything grinding to a halt, and somehow easy to believe without having to give a full explanation for things (not until one or two main reveals anyway). It’s a better mix of something for everyone, and Samuels handles everything well.

It also helps that both leads are fantastic. Allen has the charm of someone who knows how to improve any situation, or his character does anyway, and that emanates from the screen whenever he is around. Newton follows up her fun performance in Freaky with something that allows her to be effortlessly cool and likeable. Her character is going through a lot that she tries to hide, but her downswings offset the attempt to be constantly positive from Allen’s character. There are other people involved here, and a couple of the “minor” characters really grow throughout the movie, in terms of how our leads view them anyway, but this generally rests on the shoulders of Allen and Newton, and both are more than up to the task.

It may be more of a teen movie than many other time-loop flicks, but that doesn’t stop it from being almost as good as any others you could choose from. There’s a pleasant score from Tom Bromley running alongside the clean visuals, and the editing is as sharp as it needs to be for this particular sub-genre.

I am not sure how many times I could end up watching this, but I am definitely glad I decided to check it out. It may not be a perfect tiny thing, but it comes close at times.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2018)

I wouldn't have prioritised a viewing of Sierra Burgess Is A Loser if I hadn't read yet another selection of articles written by people getting upset about content that I wasn't sure was intended to offend, in context. But we all know that anyone being offended doesn't give a damn about context. Just ask, well, anyone who has recently been offended.

As suspected, there isn't much here to cause offence, certainly when you compare it to the works that have influenced it (such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and the many John Hughes movies of the 1980s). There are mean-spirited things said about various people, but all of those insults say more about the attitudes and mindsets of the characters delivering them than they say about the makers of the movie. And the characters, including the one that viewers are supposed to root for, do some bad, deceitful, things. I refer you back to the influences just mentioned. So let's move forward with a more standard look at the film without making any attempts to defend aspects that don't need defending.

Shannon Purser plays Sierra, a high school student who doesn't fit in with the crowd of more popular girls, and therefore is labelled as a loser. When Veronica (Kristine Froseth) decides to have fun by handing out Sierra's phone number, claiming it to be her own, it's not long until romance is budding, by text, between Sierra and a young man named Jamey (Noah Centineo). To keep up the pretence, Sierra will need help from Veronica. And it turns out that the latter may need some help of her own, in the form of tutoring, so the two work together, discovering that they have more in common than either would think.

I don't know how things work for Netflix picking up, or creating, their original content but it seems to be working out well for them to often take calculated risks. Perhaps the stars, content, and viewing habits are enough for the algorithms to give them the nod to throw money at a variety of projects (and let's not forget that their data-analysing system gave us House Of Cards). This is, I assume, why we have Sierra Burgess Is A Loser as the directorial feature of Ian Samuels, after a string of shorts on his filmography, and the screenwriting debut of Lindsey Beer. Both do well enough, with Beer using the teen comedy framing to explore loyalty, friendship, peer pressure, honesty, and the benefits and downsides of connecting with others on the worldwide web. Samuels may not stamp his personality on the material, but he shows a knack for emulating the vibe of past teen movies (ones that we still view fondly, despite the many problems that come packaged with them).

Purser has been garnering quite the fanbase since her turn in Stranger Things, and she puts in another good performance here. Sierra is a good young woman, but she makes bad decisions when she starts to become more selfish, neglecting her close friend (Dan, played by R. J. Cyler) and piling one lie on top of another to keep up a dishonest relationship. Froseth is the typical high school clique queen, initially, and does well with that part. She also gets to show another side of her as she and Sierra grow closer, an aspect of the film that is necessary but feels slightly rushed. Centineo is a likable male lead, helped by the fact that his character is kind and earnest as well as the object of Sierra's affection, and Cyler is a lot of fun in his role. The other supporting players are all well and good, but it will please many veiwers to see that Alan Ruck and Lea Thompson play the parents of the main character.

What this film gets right is the general high school movie feel and the selection of standard teen problems. And the cast. What it gets wrong is the lack of believability in a lot of the character developments, which affects everything, although still doesn't do enough damage if you're happy to overlook the flaws while enjoying the predictable beats that lead up to a predictable, if undeserved, finale.

6/10

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