I've just seen this film for the second time, the first time as I struggled to ram film after film into a tight film festival schedule. Fortunately I got to watch it again in some what more relaxed circumstances.
All In Time is a really hard film to sum up but very easy to like, it has an originality and charm that very few studio films would be able to achieve - essentially it's a story about love and opportunities lost and the different directions your life can take you when choosing a creative career choice you love over the more solid financial opportunities that a job on Wall Street will provide. Enter Charlie, he has chosen such a life but when he hears that his friends band is going to fold up he quits and decides to become their band promoter for two years. At first it goes well but when the bands writer, Glen, struggles to produce new material, he struggles to maintain their success, pretty soon he's losing his girlfriend, his friendship with the band and is having to re- mortgage his parents house to stay afloat. However his friend Clark and elderly neighbour Mrs Joshnman seem to have some of the answers he might be searching for. Can one last gig for the band with a radical time travel theme save the day?
Writer / Director Chris Fetchoko and Marina Donahue took this fairly simple story and put a really interesting and original twist on it. Charlies dilemma is one many creatives will be able to relate to be they from the acting, music or artist background, its something we all face at some point in our lives, often leading to elements of self destruction that put your other relationships in life at risk. This film captures that perfectly without resorting to pathos. This is largely thanks to two factors: A really good and witty script and a number of stand out performances from a very charismatic cast. Leading actor Sean Modica plays Charlie with a suitable venerability and passion that many will relate to and has something of an aura of a young Michael J Fox about him, while Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Clark slips into the plot almost seamlessly as the friend with a secret. Lynn Cohen steals all her scenes as the affable neighbour. Vanessa Ray and Josh Burrow are both excellent as girlfriend and best friend respectively.
Films have been made about the rise and fall of small bands before but I am struggling to think of one which captured the live music feel of the small venue concert so well apart from Alan Parkers 'The Commitments'. This really is the heart of the film. The soundtrack is amazing and if these singers - Laura Shay, The Badless are not signed up by major labels, they certainly should be. The film is funny and heartwarming with one scene towards the end where the realisation that sometimes its better to let things go in order to move forward and grow is especially poignant. The filmmakers took a really huge risk with one element of the story which I won't reveal here because it will spoil the third act of the film, but it works surprisingly well.
All In Time is a film with real heart, sure it has its faults but it has a real soul too. It states at the end that part of the director, Chris Fetchko died during the making of the film which suggests a turbulent road to bring it to the screen, the normal process with any low budget indy, but I have to say whatever the pains it was a journey that was totally worth it. I will be buying the DVD. One of the best and ballsy indy films I have seen in a long time. Charming.
