James Vs His Future Self

JAMES VS HIS FUTURE SELF - BANANA MOON SKY FILMS

Right off the bat, this is a film in which the performances and characters truly carry the narrative forward and are beneficial working cogs in the machine that is this story, rather than the story carrying the characters or narrative forward.

The story feels a little too Black Mirror and therefore somewhat familiar, but in this case the sci-fi beats are different in terms of how are were presented. More notably is the fact that this film is set entirely in Canada which eradicates the notion that all sci-fi films have to be set in America or otherworldly fictional countries, not too dissimilar from Mute or Upgrade in creating living breathing worlds in unique and organic settings. Narratively, it feels like a different film entirely but in terms of how it is crafted, there are clichés of conventional sci-fi that have been overused in popular media before that.

The script is well written and the actors across the board deliver their lines well, there was a fairly short but sweet Frances Conroy cameo scattered throughout which adds a much needed levity to start the story off. The scenes in where it is just James and Jimmy are very engaging and frankly enhance the overall atmosphere that fizzles in small bursts during the 94-minute runtime.

The murky lighting for instance gives off a significant feeling of dystopia and bare ideas of the unknown. Some of those scenes fe similarly framed and lit to some scenes in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One which admittedly became distracting, as did certain repetition of camera shots and the reliance of musical score to create tension which is a frustration that lay throughout the film.

Where the film finds its indefinite strongpoint though, is the through the chemistry and individual but dual lead performances of Jonas Chernick and Daniel Stern. The story relies so heavily on making audiences believe that these two people are the same, only one is from present day and one is from the future and without the chemistry and handling of their respected character, the film likely wouldn’t work as well as it does.

The direction and story throws the audience the question of how far would they go to believe that what they’re seeing on screen is the story, and not just two great actors acting to a script; and the story works to its advantage here as it feels like they were the same people but just from different parts of their life.

Jonas’s performance exudes “big nerd energy” that is infectiously annoying but for good reason. Everything about the character of James feels like an amalgamation of many geniuses, with his wiry remarks and self-obsessive traits being reminiscent to that of Sheldon Cooper out of The Big Bang Theory, constantly speaking dialogue in similar jittery tongues of Eisenbergs’ Zuckerberg in The Social Network, totally believing his emotions from this very well layered performance.

Whereas Stern gives a surprisingly raw and moving performance, as Jimmy is a man literally out of time and in desperate stakes in which the film cuts no corners in emphasising. As the film progresses and it becomes more sci-fi heavy, the traits that Jimmy possesses slowly become apparent with James’s character, showing progression not only through story but also through the way he presents himself as an otherwise shy and irritant figure.

Overall, James Vs His Future Self is nothing too special, but it is certainly refreshing and distinctive from the conventional sci-fi flicks being released currently. Holding a significant focus on character rather than spectacle which is something to certainly admire, and hopefully other films will adhere to this notion before they churn out the same stories on a loop.