(thanks, famousmichigan!)

As much fun as it was and still is, frankly speaking, Superman: the Movie had a really TERRIBLE time travel sequence that breaks the film and manages to always get a tiny bit under my skin each time I see it. Fortunately, Somewhere In Time is a much better film overall about time travel, love, loss and quite probably the worst long distance relationship ever. I saw this upon its initial release back in 1980 and it’s stuck with me since.

Now, I’m not deep into the romantic fantasy genre at all, but SoT has a compelling pull to it that makes it one of my favorite science fiction films, bittersweet finale and all. It’s not for every taste, but if you decide to give this one a shot, you’ll find Jeannot Szwarc’s fine direction, the lovely John Barry score, intentionally languid pacing and solid performances from the cast (I think it’s Reeve’s best film work, period) make this one truly memorable…

This one’s a box of tissues movie if you’re the hopeless romantic type and if you haven’t seen it before (and/or tend to be the overly sensitive type), you’ll probably start in with the bawling a few minutes in when Christopher Reeve’s character, Richard Collier is handed an aged pocket watch by an elderly woman who simply says “Come back to me…” before she ambles away (and later, dies alone in her room!). A few years later, Collier is a successful Chicago playwright on a trip to Michigan’s stately Mackinac Island to clear his mind from writer’s block and a recent romantic breakup when he sees an old portrait at the Grand Hotel of a beautiful woman.

Yeah, YOU’D go back in time for her, too.

Most normal guys would simply stop, stare and smile as their brain snapped a mental photo, but Collier just so happens to fall head over heels hopelessly in love with actress Elise McKenna (Seymour) and thanks to some handy plot twists, figures out a way to transport himself from 1980 to 1912. I’m skipping over the whys and hows of his time travel discovery and the sequence in the film because it’s actually quite wonderfully thought out in a “if it could be done that way, well… that’s how it would work” manner and yes, you can thank Richard Matheson (who wrote the screenplay from his novel Bid Time Return) for coming up with a fresh angle that doesn’t involve some strange-looking machine, aliens or the other expected trappings of science fiction. That and part of the sequence is in the trailer above, heh.

Er, where was I again? Oh, right. The means of transport actually adds to the film’s mysterious air and also allows for a VERY easy excuse for some minor historical flaws some of the more picky fans and critics have pointed out as not period perfect. Then again, if you’re staring at doorknobs and hinges and stuff not quite as well hidden in some of the backgrounds as it should be and not Reeve and Seymour doing their wooing… you might need a little trip of your own to a nice quite place to reflect on that’s REALLY important about this film. Those flaws you’re noting can be seen as Collier’s travel being a dreamlike state where elements of the past and present blend together as his mind recreates conditions to the best of its ability. He’s able to picture that hotel and surroundings based on his personal view of them, but as he’s not studied EVERY element of the era, it’s obvious that minor details would be filled in with parts he didn’t imagine. If you have vivid dreams every so often, you’ll get this right away.

The great Christopher Plummer is aboard as William Fawcett Robinson, McKenna’s mean manager who seems to not only have nefarious designs on her, he also seems to know Collier is from the future and while he’s no doubt startled by this, he’s also not going to let this man have what he wants. Faster than you can say “C**kblock in Aisle nine!”, he’s trying his best to keep the pair separated, but as usual, love has its ways… Robinson’s part in the film is important, but interestingly enough a bit of a nifty red herring because it’s actually Collier himself who ends up being his own worst enemy. In what’s probably the most heart-rending moments in the film, he’s forced back into his own time thanks to one stupidly simple mistake made in the present some of us are terminally guilty of. For this point to the finale, there’s a sense of dread and heavy weight that drags the film into dark waters and although the last scene brings a (tiny) bit of light, it’s going to be a depressing flicker to some who find it romantic indeed, but still downbeat as hell.

But of course, some people LOVE downbeat romantic tales (those Owners of Lonely Hearts and Broken Heart Club lifetime members are made of strong stuff, that’s for damn sure!), so I’m not going to knock them around here. This one’s going to hit whomever watches it in one way or another, so if you do decide to take a trip back to 1980 at some point, take that aforementioned box of tissues or at least a clean hanky and maybe have a soft or hard shoulder to sob on. And YES, definitely pair this up with Nicholas Mayer’s also excellent Time After Time for some post romantic depressant pick me up action.