HIDEAWAY // A FILM REVIEW OF “THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT”
BY MATEO MORENO
THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT, the new sci-fi puzzle by Michael Felker, is a story of a brother and sister criminal team named Joseph and Sydney who are hiding out after a robbery. The cops were hot on their tail, so they needed a place to hide until the heat blows over. Sounds somewhat familiar so far. However, this trippy sci-fi yarn is anything but familiar. The duo, played by Adam David Thomas and Riley Dandy, are hiding out in the most sci-fi of ways; using time travel. But not in a way that you’ve seen before, and not even in a way that I’ll fully explain in this review. Saying the device out-loud spoils the fun a bit. It could also sound like a film that, in the wrong hands, is a cheesy mess. It could have turned out like that. Thankfully, writer/director Michael Felker has crafted a very nifty sci-fi chamber piece. There’s a frenzied beginning, the use of time travel. Then we have a passage of time where of course, things start to go a bit different than Joseph and Sydney ever could have expected. That can happen when you jump into a time travel device that you don’t understand at all.
From the moment Joseph and Sydney step into that secluded farmhouse, they long for a change. Boy, do they get it. Both Adam David Thomas and Riley Dandy are excellent here, fully bringing you into their world as grow afraid right along with them. Shot with a stylistic flair and framed in a nonlinear mysterious fashion, Felker pulls off quite a feat, with minimal locations and really only two actors throughout. It’s an original concept and this film takes chances. A lot of them. And it works. Truly the best way to go into this film is to know as little as possible about it and let it blow over you. Michael Felker’s direction is spot on and his film is engaging throughout. THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT is by and by one of the most original sci-fi films I’ve seen in a very long while. Do yourself a favor and go in “blind” to this film and trust that it’s going to wrap itself around you, never letting you go.
GRADE: A-
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Michael Felker STARRING Adam David Thomas, Riley Dandy NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES.