Time Spell: mistakes and hits shown by a clever comedy

A very simple premise turns into an extraordinary movie with a well-written screenplay, well-directed acting and an envious edition. One of them is certainly 1993's "Time Spell" (Groundhog Day).

The synopsis is as follows: "A man who presents the weather forecast ends up trapped in a city, living the same day every new morning." Simple, isn't it? Add to that Bill Murray, the lead actor, known for his comedy work, to make the movie look like another shallow story, made just for fun.

Image Source: Press Release / Columbia Pictures

However, this movie is more than that. Yes, he gets good laughs from the viewer, but uses intelligence to do so. In addition to entertaining, the narrative can show that relationships are much more complicated than they seem.

In one part of the movie, Phil (Murray's character) discovers that a homeless man in the city died without help. Therefore, he spends several of the days repeating himself trying to help the old man, and even if he takes any action to prevent the tragic fate from occurring, he finds that it is no use.

At first, the character is lost and completely out of control, doing what he wants. As he matures in that day, he begins to get to know people, discovering exactly what is happening on the spot.

Similarly, the romantic relationship also matures during Phil's stay. If at first he uses clichés and superficial knowledge about Rita (played by Andie MacDowell) to conquer her, over time the protagonist discovers that this is not enough to win that woman's real love.

As the character begins to focus on not only helping others, but improving as a human being and as a citizen, the situation begins to change, bringing admiration and respect from the entire city (and from Rita, of course).

In technical terms, the film is sublime, especially in terms of editing and editing. The scenes that repeat themselves are perfectly architected and rehearsed, something that is certainly worth knowing (and reviewing).

The most interesting of "Time Spell", however, is the lack of a "voice of conscience" to explain to the protagonist what is happening. Unlike what we see in "A Family Man, " for example, we don't have an entity that can tell why Phil is stuck in that situation, not even what he must do to get out of it.

Instead of telling the audience exactly what the character has learned, “Time Spell” presents the story in a way that does not underestimate who is watching, so that they can recover for themselves the teachings and philosophy of life described there.

Phil learns from his mistakes and successes as he has to stay there for much of his life. However, we do not have the same “advantage”, that is, we need to learn as the days go by, different from each other. Time does not pause on a specific day, so we should not waste energy on the same "dead ends".

Similarly, we need to recognize in each situation a different learning, adapting our knowledge to the unexpected. After all, you can't make the same mistakes and expect a different result, can you?

It is not known exactly how many days Phil spent reliving the same day, but from what we see in the movie, it's a few years until the end of the plot happens. But the important thing is that the movie brings us good hours of intelligent entertainment, made for those who love romance, comedy and drama.