Tempus Fugit is a very human take on the ancient theme of time travel. Despite this seeming lack of originality, the film is anything but clichéd in its execution. It deftly tackles in a refreshing way the story of an apparently ordinary man, chosen to do an important job - or else the world ends. Time travel is at the heart of both story and ultimate solution, yet it is clearly a means, a device, implemented in the story in the most simple of fashions. Most things appear simple at first sight in this movie, which is a nice change from the convolution that characterises so many similar themed films. Paradox is neither explained nor ignored, but treated matter-of-factly - not an obstacle but a given, hardly worth mentioning.
The characters are sympathetic in the extreme, from the main personage to the woman he secretly admires, from his rabid football loving neighbour to the people that occupy the square that is a central location to the film. Even the 'visitor from the future', obnoxious though he seems at first, has a certain charm that makes you want to forgive his crasser statements. The same really goes for the entire film, whose low production values shine through at times but never become distracting: the small flaws that are there are easily ignored in the face of a charming tale, told in such a clearly loving fashion that by the end it'll have put a smile on your face and made you realise that its ending, which out-Hollywoods Hollywood itself, is the only one possible after a story like this. Highly recommended. (Seen at the Amsterdam Festival for Fantastic Films, April 2004 - prefaced by an interview with the director)
