I don't dislike 'Chronologic' outright. But in my mind this is a literal embodiment of the phrase, "it sounds good on paper."
Lights! Camera! Dialogue?
Of four actors to appear in this, one (Melanie Stone) has a single line and a few seconds of screen time. A second (Jaclyn Hales) is represented only in her likeness. The two that carry the short, Chris Clark and David Nibley, are fine. They deliver their lines, express a modicum of emotion - roll credits.
I certainly don't intend to sound quite as dismissive as this probably reads, neither of the chief performers nor of the film as a whole. But the delivery of those lines is literally everything in 'Chronologic' - save for a few scant seconds, the short takes place entirely within a single room, with only an interaction between two characters for content. A short film like this lives or dies on the strength of its singular scene, and while I certainly don't know enough about the actors to comment on them otherwise, they may as well have been reading from scripts placed on the desk between them.
"Reading" is the key word here, in fact. Because I like the premise of 'Chronologic': A company offers premium time travel services for those who can afford it. It certainly feels like a concept we may have read in a sci-fi anthology from the likes of Philip K. Dick, and which a major Hollywood studio would try, and fail, to adapt into a major blockbuster. But a collection of written short stories is where 'Chronologic' really belongs, not on film.
I can picture, in my mind, a wealth of small details that a writer could inject into the dialogue between Chronologic's representative, Steven, and the client, Walter. The nervous jostling of one's leg, the incessant clicking of a pen, the wringing of one's hands, the self-assured exhalation of cigarette smoke from one's lungs - small character moments like these would convey so much of the attitudes of those present, written on paper, and say everything without saying anything. I can picture, too, a great range of emotion these characters could be given during their conversation, which would also add tension and drama to an otherwise very small scene.
I can readily picture 'Chronologic,' a written short story, rife with language and details that gives it life and makes us feel every beat. 'Chronologic,' the short film, is what would happen if two people read the spoken lines from that short story, excising all else, but did so on camera. So it is.
There is also an unspoken theme about the vast power of corporations who wield immeasurable and seemingly insurmountable walls of fine print, lawyers, and money against people who would seek their services, or who are otherwise beholden to them. The corruption endemic to our capitalist hellscape is a great enemy, at once both intangible and palpable, that we all recognize in our lives and can discuss at length. 'Chronologic' tentatively waves a hand over these ideas - yet like the light stirring of air that such a motion would create, that tertiary focus is here and gone in the blink of an eye.
Books and short stories are frequently adapted into films. Some full-length films are given novelizations to expand their detail and reach. 'Chronologic' is a strange example of a short film that, in my mind, should be adapted into a written short story.
Interesting premise. Very incomplete presentation.
