The idea of putting life on pause can be an appealing one. Living in a world that is so fast paced, where we are subjected to everyone’s thoughts all the time, escapism is a fantasy of sorts for many people. In THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT, director Michael Felker examines what could happen if this fantasy became a reality. What if you were truly living in a state of purgatory? How would you adapt? THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT follows siblings Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) as they hide out in a metaphysical farmhouse after stealing a large sum of money. This farmhouse transports them to a reality and a timeline different from our own where they are able to remain undetected. However, their time and responsibilities in the farmhouse end up far exceeding any of their expectations.
At the heart of it, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is a story about family. Joseph and Sidney are siblings that were once very close, as evidenced by the matching tattoos on their wrists, but at the movie’s opening, they haven’t spoken in years. Luckily, there is no better time to air out familial trauma than when you are trapped in an alternate universe with your estranged brother or sister. One of the strengths of THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is that it begins right in the action. The robbery has already transpired, the time bending hideout has been found, all that is left is to figure it out. Oftentimes, this is a smart approach to a film as it is better to find yourself with a lot of questions than to be bored or disinterested. THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is, overall, a very smart movie. It makes you think, it leaves you with questions, it delivers you at the doorstep of huge, philosophical ideas, and it does so in just over 100 minutes.
The experience of the movie is reminiscent of a long winter’s day. It successfully puts you in the mindset of Joseph and Sidney as they adapt to this extended, unexpected, vacation from reality. The lives led in THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT are not too dissimilar from the lives many of us lived in early 2020. Joseph and Sidney stay inside most of the time, drink heavily, and try to come up with creative ways to pass the time. That is until an unseen being provides them with instructions, a purpose, and their world is once again turned on its head. This brings us to the biggest challenge with THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT which is the pacing. A lot of runtime is devoted to the set up of what is admittedly a complex plot. The excitement that comes with launching right into the time-bending, unnatural elements of the story quickly fades away as Sidney and Joseph’s days drag on and on, without much provoking change within or around them.
When the other shoe does drop however, and the action kicks off in earnest, it is exhilarating. It’s only regrettable that the shift comes so far into THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT’s runtime. There are moments of gore that are sudden and graphic and they feel brutal in their intensity. The ground shifts underneath you time and time again, and questions swirl around you. Can you ever escape the cycle of trauma and abuse, or is it destined to always repeat? What would you do if you weren’t the main character of your own story? How far are you willing to go for money and what is it really worth? THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is a movie that comes together most and shines the brightest once you’ve experienced the whole thing. It’s like a painting you have to stand at a distance to really see and appreciate.
Tags: Adam David Thompson, Film Festivals, Michael Felker, Riley Dandy, SXSW, SXSW 2024, Things Will Be Different
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