''Needle in a Timestack'' is a 2021 American romantic

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

film written and directed by

John Ridley John Ridley IV (born 1965) is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for '' 12 Years a Slave'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the a ...

, based on the short story of the same name by

Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand ...

. The film stars

Leslie Odom Jr. Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr. (; born August 6, 1981) is an American actor and singer. He made his acting debut on Broadway in 1998 and first gained recognition for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the musical ''Hamilton'', which earned him a Tony Award f ...

Freida Pinto Freida Selena Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's Colle ...

Cynthia Erivo Cynthia Erivo (; born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Grammy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Awa ...

Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001), ''The Two Towers'' (2002), a ...

, and

Jadyn Wong Jadyn Wong is a Canadian actress, best known for playing mechanical prodigy Happy Quinn on the CBS show ''Scorpion''. Early life and education Jadyn Wong was born May 11, 1989 in Canada to immigrants from the then-British Hong Kong. She com ...

. ''Needle in a Timestack'' was released in the United States on October 15, 2021, by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

Plot

In the near future, "time jaunting" (time travel) is possible for the very rich. Time shifts that result from these time jumps are commonplace, and whole industries have risen up to help people store their memories. Nick Mikkelsen, an architect, is married to Janine, a photographer. They seem happy, but after being struck by the third time shift in a year, Nick starts to feel something is off. He suspects they previously had a dog, whereas now they have a cat. He blames the shifting on Janine's ex-husband Tommy (also a college friend of Nick's), who he thinks is changing the past to get Janine back. Janine is no longer in love with Tommy but she is getting annoyed with Nick's obsession with him. Nick goes to see Tommy to "catch up" but also to find out if he has been messing with the past. Tommy does not reveal if he is, but says he wishes things had gone differently in his marriage. Nick starts to store his memories in one of the memory companies in preparation for future time shifts. Nick's sister Zoe tells Nick that her partner Sabila died in a rock climbing accident. Nick tells Janine he is going to see Tommy but then he discovers she also went to see him. After being mad at each other for a few days, Nick asks Janine to go away with him, to just keep traveling until there are no places left. She agrees, but as they are leaving, a huge time shift flows over them. Nick suddenly finds himself driving in a car, alone. He immediately tries to call Janine, who is not in his contact list, and he cannot find her by her maiden name either. A few minutes later, Janine calls Nick, and tells him they were married and had a cat, but she cannot remember where they lived. She says she has been with Tommy for nine years; Tommy was successful in changing the past. Nick lets his car take him home, and he is now married to Alex. Alex can sense that Nick is different, but over time he seems to "remember" their life together, he says the same sweet things to Alex that he had said to Janine. Zoe tells Nick that her partner, Sabila, is alive again, but later admits that she actually had died, but she paid all her money to time jaunt and change the past so Sabila would not go rock climbing that day. Nick decides to time jaunt to a time 13 years prior in an effort to make things right. In the past, he tells Tommy that he is breaking up with Alex, and persuades him to go after her. He leaves a note for himself in the past, saying Alex has fallen in love with Tommy, and not to worry but he will find the person he is meant to be with, and he will know her just by looking at her. Nick comes back to the present to find he lives alone, and apparently he has been very withdrawn. Zoe calls Tommy, who calls Nick and convinces him to attend a party. Everyone there says they are happy at how everything has turned out for all of them, and that they have missed Nick. As Nick starts to leave, he sees Janine, there as a photographer for the party. Their eyes meet, and something inside of both of them knows: there is something between them. Nick turns to leave again, but he stops himself.

Cast

Production

It was announced in April 2017 that

would write and direct a film based on

's short story "Needle in a Timestack", with

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

set to distribute. Miramax was no longer involved by June 2018, with

Bron Studios Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) is a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. Bron's notable productions include '' Joker, Bombshell, Queen & Slim, Greyhound, Judas and the Black Messiah,'' '' T ...

taking over.

and

were cast that same month. Filming took place in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

from June 18 to July 24, 2018. According to Silverberg, the film underwent more than a year of editing and re-editing.

Release

The film was released in the United States on digital,

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

, and in limited theaters by

on October 15, 2021, and on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on October 19.

Critical reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 37%, based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus reads, "Despite a nifty premise and some talented stars, ''Needle in a Timestack'' is too slack and diffuse to recommend searching for."

References

External links

* * {{John Ridley 2021 films 2021 romantic drama films 2021 science fiction films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s science fiction drama films American science fiction drama films American science fiction romance films American romantic drama films Bron Studios films Films about marriage Films about time travel Films based on American short stories Films based on science fiction short stories Films directed by John Ridley Films scored by Mark Isham Films set in the future Films shot in Vancouver Films with screenplays by John Ridley Lionsgate films