Synopsis
Things Will Be Different is a 2024 science fiction thriller and marks the feature debut of director Michael Felker. It unfolds a family’s tale of intimacy intertwined with the manipulation of time and the psychological burden of attempting to rewrite destiny.
Starring Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy, the film follows estranged brothers Joseph and Sidney. After a robbery gone awry, the pair reconvene at a town diner with a plan to escape and 7 million dollars in cash. Joseph takes Sidney to a farmhouse that, by his vague directions, holds a curious time-travel mechanism in a closet.
The mechanism’s activation combines a rotary phone along with a grandfather clock. When activated, the mechanism takes them in an alternate timeline. They plan to hide in the alternate timeline for 2 weeks. But upon attempting to return, the closet door is locked, effectively trapping them. In a nearby abandoned mill, they find a decaying corpse and scribbled warning signs that suggest a form of temporal imprisonment.
In the farmhouse, a large safe appears out of nowhere. Within it, a tape recorder links them to an unseen man, “the voice,” who asserts dominion over the farmhouse’s power. He tells them the only way out is through following his precise directions. This includes getting ready to kill a future visitor who will come to the house.
As the tension intensifies, days turn into weeks. When the visitor shows up, she is masked and injured. A song that had played during Sidney’s childhood starts to play, and she reveals herself as Sidney’s daughter, Steph. Sidney is emotionally shattered. In the chaos, Joseph accidentally shoots Sidney. This allows Steph to escape through the closet.
Now, Joseph is all by himself, and he tries the voice’s directions. He fails, and the voice along with an unknown woman appears. They purge both siblings for their defiance. Joseph is given one last chance: They allow him a last chance, but only if he travels back to the beginning and replaces his past self, killing the other Joseph to assume his position.
In the ending sequence, we once again see Joseph and Sidney at the diner. He is older, and wiser, and with years of cycles of repeated timelines behind him, he knows the only way to break the loop. Joseph tells Sidney that he must die, and she must kill him to complete the cycle. As the police sirens grow louder and Sidney flees, the audience is left questioning whether she actually managed to break the loop.
Cast & Characters
Adam David Thompson as Joseph: The brother burdened with guilt and is driven to change the past at any cost.
Riley Dandy as Sidney: Joseph’s torn sister, who is caught between the desire to survive and the longing for her lost daughter.
Chloe Skoczen as Steph: The mysterious adult visitor is revealed to be Sidney’s daughter, Steph.
Michael Felker: The director and writer brought an experimental yet grounded touch to the film.
Jimmy LaValle and Michael A. Muller: The film’s emotional moments are punctuated by a haunting score, composed by these two.
Themes & Analysis
- Time Loops and Consequence
As is evident in the film, Joseph’s repeated attempts at trying to change the outcome only attempts to change the outcome and brings him back to the same point, raise the question whether one’s choices.
- Under Pressure Family Connections
In the narrative, the bond between Joseph and Sidney as siblings is important. Their loyalty and the secrets they keep together is what leads to their cooperation, and ultimately, their failure. The reveal of Steph’s identity later transforms the time loop into a poignant personal tragedy.
- Choice Versus Determinism
The mysterious voice serves as a puppet master, suggesting the siblings have little to no agency. Still, the choice Joseph makes at the end, to have Sidney kill him, feels like the one action taken entirely outside the voice’s control.
- Psychological Isolation as a Weapon
The farmhouse serves as the setting for most of the film, and it shifts from sanctuary to prison. The characters’ loss of mental stability as influenced by the repetitive, constricted setting makes them easier to control.
- Moral Cost
Instead of saving himself, Joseph’s final act is to perhaps free his sister from the cycle. This moral sacrifice stands in stark contrast to his earlier acts of desperation and selfishness, creating a bittersweet sense of resolution.
Visual Style & Tone
The cinematography prefers long shots, muted lighting, and tight framing, underscoring the entrapment and the passage of time. The farmhouse is captured in cold, muted hues and the sparse outdoor shots are equally lifeless, reinforcing the notion that the world beyond offers no real escape.
The pacing is slow, almost meditative at times, enhancing the feeling of stagnation. This rhythm evokes the sensation of being ensnared in an unendable cycle, where every day blends into the next.
Performances
Adam David Thompson delivers a subtle performance as Joseph, infusing quiet intensity into the character and bringing to life the burden of endless regret. Riley Dandy as Sidney is more overtly expressive, and her emotional hopefulness and volatility is counterbalanced by Joseph’s resigned demeanor. They form a believable, shared, historically rich and grievance-laden sibling interplay.
Chloe Moriondo as Steph is emotionally riveting in her short, yet impactful role. Her entrance transforms the narrative from one of abstract science fiction to a more intimate tale of familial relations. Her recognition of Sidney is striking and is one of the film’s strongest moments.
Reception Overview
Things Will be Different has received compliments regarding its ambition and how its emotional stakes take precedent over grand science fiction set pieces. Many viewers appreciate its minimalism and minimalism and the broad strokes of its worldbuilding. The human drama becomes prominent thanks to the tight scope and contained setting of the story.
Some audiences have criticized its slow pacing and the decision to not explain every detail of the time travel mechanism. For some audiences, the ambiguity is a hallmark of the film’s haunting nature; for other people, it feels like the film is frustratingly unresolved.
As a debut feature, it is considered to be a bold entry as it balances speculative concepts alongside character-driven storytelling.
Conclusion
Things Will Be Different combines the elements of time travel and slow-burn family drama while exploring the themes of guilt, sacrifice, and one’s personal history. Instead of asking how time travel works, the film examines the emotional cost of time travel and if it is capable of changing a person.
The film’s most impactful part is the final act of love when the emotional devastation of two siblings wrapped into a cycle they can’t escape is set free. It’s a story about change, or the lack of, letting go and holding on. Viewers want to know if anything can truly change.
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