Movie Breakdown: Time (Noah)

Pre-Screening Stance:

I’ve been both watching a lot of documentaries lately (seeing actual people actually interacting helps sooth my troubled soul) and in the same breath, complaining about the generic form so many documentaries seem to be squished into these days. Time, a documentary about a woman and her family’s decades long attempt to free her husband from jail seems to vary quite a bit from said unexplained form. And this, this makes me excited.

Post-Screening Ramble:

There is an intentional vagueness to the documentary Time, a sort of loose way the camera(s) and the characters float in out of the frame, the way the timeline meanders between before and after the unseen crime at the crux of the movie. The film follows Sybil Fox Richardson – Fox Rich – a mother of six who spent three years in jail for armed robbery. Her husband – Robert Richardson (aka Rob Rich) – has been in jail for almost three decades as his children grow up and as they, and their mother, fight for his freedom. As much as Time is a film about fighting against the American penal system, it’s really a film about how the American penal system – and the systemic racism at the heart of it – affects the loved ones of those in jail almost more so. Director Garrett Bradley uses footage Fox Rich shot shortly after she was released from prison and shortly after her husband went to jail (on a 60 year sentence with no probation) and footage he shot of the family decades later to tell the story of the Richardsons and how they clung together, managing to thrive even with a hole in their lives. Even as I try to write what Time is “about” none of my attempts seem to capture the film. Part of this is because the movie is artistically elusive, Bradley’s film work is always slightly gauzy and oft times shot from afar, highlighting his intentions to distance himself both from the subject and from a solid perspective on the events. This is Fox Rich’s story and Bradley’s camera is there to capture it. More so though, by keeping the film’s intent hazy (aside from showcasing the emotional trauma imprisonment marks a family with while showing the resilience of those who are traumatized) it allows the audience to discover their own viewpoint. This isn’t a film trying to ask easy questions and it isn’t a film that provides easy answers. It’s a touching and beautifully made doc about a family surviving in the face of a true American tragedy. And that, well, there’s no formulaic way to capture the situation’s emotional sprawl.

One Last Thought:

I kept thinking of Trey Edward Shultz’s (Waves) first film, Krisha, when I was watching Time. The tension Bradley manages to weave into every frame paired with the jittery piano soundtrack feels similar to Shultz’s suburban family meltdown. Regardless, both films are great.