Expertly crafted low-budget time travel movie about a middle-aged man (Karra Elejalde) who, after catching a glimpse of a naked woman in the forest outside his new house, goes into the woods to take a closer look and is suddenly stabbed in the arm by a fiend in a pink head bandage. If that's not weird enough, the man, fleeing from his mysterious attacker, runs to a nearby building and hides inside... a time machine, which promptly sends him about one hour back in time.
Timecrimes is a very smart film, and writer/director Vigalondo, who is also one of just five cast members, figures that audiences will quickly guess what the big "twist" is, as it's rather obvious. (Guess who's under the pink bandage?) So Vigalondo himself reveals the twist less than halfway through the film, at which point it's up to the viewer to keep up with his Rubik's Cube of a plot.
While the film may remind some of the no-budget American indie Primer, Timecrimes' tangle of time travel paradoxes is far less confounding. Things are wrapped up nicely at the end, though it's still worth a second viewing to catch all the details. Direction, cast, editing, cinematography, and music are all strong. This is must-see viewing for any fan of time travel fiction – and in fact it's just a good movie, period.