Shooting a paradox on time
“The main fault of man is that we think we have time”. This line resonates in ‘Temporal’ the latest short film by the High School Junkies in association with Harindu Gunawardene Pictures in their first collaboration.
The sci-fi short movie (duration 30 minutes) which premiered at the Liberty by Scope Cinema on Monday, March 7, centres on a physicist played by Vimukthi Kiriella who desperately challenges the limits of time travel to save the woman he loves, played by Ishanka Abeysekara. Directed by Akash Sunethkumara, the film also features Muthumali Perera, Pasindu Bhagya Withanage, and Radishan Yahathugoda in supporting roles.
Temporal was a laborious effort which required eight months of work to complete, the team told the Sunday Times magazine. Battling the usual logistical and scheduling issues but with the benefit of cinema cameras to present the film in high quality and with a larger crew than before, Akash shared that Temporal was filmed in three days with one of the sessions even amounting to a staggering 17-hour shoot.
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- Akash Sunethkumara
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- Above and below: Stills from Temporal
The film establishes the dynamic between its leads quickly making apparent the state of their strained relationship owing to the protagonist’s dedication to his work. This allowed for the film to dedicate more of its run time to the more riveting aspects of Temporal such as the impact and aftermath of time travel which features some stellar special effects. The film also effectively paced the increasingly intense series of events which occur.
Introduced in its opening credits as ‘a paradox by Akash Sunethkumara’, Akash explains: “personally, in a paradox no matter how much you think ‘where does it begin and where does it end?’, you can never really find an answer so that in turn it yields the opportunity for the audience to have a conversation”. A time paradox is a notoriously difficult subject to base a story on and often prone to a few plot holes at the very least. This required the writers – Harindu Gunawardena, Shachitra Siriwardhana, Kasun Rathnasiri and Ruwanga Kodituwakku to cover every base in order to ensure that continuity was maintained throughout the events depicted without the story becoming too complicated.
The list of films and TV series that inspired the story of Temporal is exhaustive as the team recalled movies they had watched from childhood to later releases such as 2014’s Predestination starring Ethan Hawke which was named as a major influence. Viewers are also likely to be reminded of classics like 1985’s Back to the Future and even more recent TV series such as Netflix’s Dark, during certain scenes of the short film. However, Temporal stands on its own with its characters and specific take on a time paradox.
Temporal was made available for viewing online on the High School Junkies website and YouTube channel of the same name on March 12.
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