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      ‘Sundown’ Review: Stuck in Shallow Waters in Acapulco

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      In this Michel Franco film, a family escapes to the beach in Acapulco, the onetime sun-baked paradise that has become an epicenter of violence.Acapulco’s picturesque beauty and grimy desperation converge in writer-director Michel Franco’s psychological thriller “Sundown.” Franco teams up again here with Tim Roth who plays Neil Bennett, an heir to a United Kingdom meatpacking fortune on vacation with his wife, Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and family. The cinematographer Yves Cape delivers a steady stream of wide shots and abstract-leaning frames that constantly compel the viewer to prioritize the macro over the micro.Franco chooses to depict Acapulco from the wealthy white foreigner’s point of view, in which the lives of brown locals — the villains and Neil’s beautiful lover Berenice (Iazua Larios) alike — go unexamined. Yet Franco manages to wag a not-too-subtle finger at viewers, reminding them to check their assumptions about Neil while at the same time keeping the raison d’être of that main character utterly hidden. The result: “Sundown” lands more like a one-note thought exercise than a fully fleshed out story.Roth’s delivery isn’t the problem here; neither is the film’s slow-burn pacing nor its absence of score. Rather, the script feels thin and ill-conceived in a film that clings noticeably to the surface. Neil is nothing if not brief — the number of lines he has might add up to a paragraph in the entire film. We can barely get a good look at him; his first close-up doesn’t appear until nearly halfway through the film.Ultimately what “Sundown” is most successful at revealing to us is the look of Acapulco itself. By the end, Cape has captured how the sun strikes this spot of Pacific Coast in a dozen different ways. If only the same amount of light had been shed on any of the characters. Without that, an Acapulco sunburn is likely to elicit more feeling than “Sundown” does.SundownRated R for graphic violence, sexual content. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. In theaters. More

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      He’s a Doctor. He’s an Actor. He’s an Indie Heartthrob.

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      Actors have a long history of indulging in side projects: Some use their off time to write books, while others even front rock bands. But it’s fair to say that few thespians navigate a dual career quite like Anders Danielsen Lie, who currently stars as a lingering love interest in both “Bergman Island” and “The Worst Person in the World” — an indie-film doubleheader that prompted one critic to dub him “the art house’s next great ex-boyfriend” — while still working full-time as a doctor in Oslo.“It’s been overwhelming,” Lie, 43, told me over a recent video chat, and he wasn’t kidding: In early January, he was named best supporting actor by the National Society of Film Critics even as he worked three days a week at a vaccination center in Oslo and two days a week as a general practitioner. “It feels kind of abstract because as an actor, the most important part of making a movie is the shoot itself,” he said. “Then, when the film is coming out, it’s kind of a surreal experience.”Expect things to get even more surreal as the acclaimed “The Worst Person in the World” finally makes its way into American theaters on Feb. 4. In this romantic dramedy from the director Joachim Trier, Renate Reinsve — who won the best-actress prize for the role at the Cannes Film Festival — stars as Julie, a young 20-something trying to figure out her future. For some time, she takes up with Lie’s character, Aksel, an older, charismatic comic-book artist, and adopts his settled life as her own. But even when they break up and Julie discovers new pursuits, she finds her bond with the cocksure Aksel hard to shake.Lie with Renate Reinsve in “The Worst Person in the World”Kasper Tuxen, via Sundance InstituteLie previously collaborated with Trier on the well-reviewed films “Reprise” (2008) and “Oslo, August 31” (2012), but “The Worst Person in the World” has proved to be something of a breakthrough: Already, the internet has crafted video tributes to his character, and the film has struck a chord with audiences who prefer simple, human stakes to superhuman ones. “It felt like we made a very local thing from Oslo, and we were afraid if anybody else in the world would understand,” Lie said. “But people on the other side of the planet can identify with it. That’s what is so nice about feature films, they kind of bring people together.”Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.With Aksel and Julie, it feels like the qualities that drew them to each other eventually drive them apart. How would you sum up their relationship?He’s good at articulating her emotions and thoughts, and that’s something she probably wanted at an earlier stage in their relationship, but at this point, she’s just annoyed by it. He’s a pretty kind person, but he is also, in a subtle way, trying to dominate her by using language as his tool, because that’s what he’s good at.Is Aksel a “bad boyfriend,” as a recent Vanity Fair article asserted?I don’t see him as a bad boyfriend at all, actually. She’s not bad; he’s not bad; they’re just human. They are put in situations where they have to make hard choices and end up feeling like the worst people in the world, but it’s not really their fault. It’s life’s fault, in a way.In the film, we watch Julie swipe between different identities, trying on new jobs, new passions. Did you act the same way at that age?I personally thought that my 20s and 30s were hard, tough years, because I spent so much time trying to figure out who I was and what to do. I still haven’t made that choice, but that doesn’t bother me so much anymore. I’m happy enough to have two kids and a wife. Maybe it’s as simple as that.When you were younger, did you feel pressure to make an ultimate choice between acting and medicine?This has been my ongoing identity crisis.Lie is the son of an actress and a doctor who “ended up being both!” he said. “I probably should go into psychoanalysis or something.”David B. Torch for The New York TimesMaybe that’s just the bifurcated life you feel most suited to.It’s definitely a bifurcated life, and sometimes it feels like an identity crisis because it’s just a lot of hustle making the calendar work out. It’s hard to combine those two occupations, and sometimes I also wonder a little bit who I am. I’m trying to think that I’m something deeper than that: I’m not the doctor or the actor, I’m someone else, and these are just roles that I go into.Your mother is an actress. Did that affect the way you regard an actor’s life?My mother is not the typical actress — she’s not a diva or anything like that. She’s a very ordinary person, and I think it’s important to have a foot in reality if you want to portray people onscreen with confidence and credibility. But I’ve grown up seeing how it is to be an actress and how it is to be a doctor, and ended up being both! I probably should go into psychoanalysis or something.Your father was a doctor. That pretty much split you right down the middle, doesn’t it?Exactly. Maybe it’s an inheritable disease.Does one career inform the other?Working as an actor has improved my communication skills as a doctor because acting is so much about listening to the other actors and trying to establish good communication, often with people that you don’t know very well, and that reminds me a little bit of working as a doctor. I meet people, often for the first time, and they present a very private problem to me, and I have to get the right information to help them. It’s a very delicate, hard communication job, actually.“I have, many times, asked myself why I keep doing this, because I’m very neurotic as a person,” Lie said. David B. Torch for The New York TimesYou made your film debut when you were 11 in a film called “Herman.” How did that come about?My mother had worked with the director, so she knew he was searching for a boy my age, and she asked if I was interested in doing an audition. I didn’t really know what I had signed up for — I was 10 years old, and it felt like just a game that we were playing. I remember when the director wanted me to do the part, he came to our house with flowers and said, “Congratulations,” and I was frightened because I realized, “Now I really have to play that role and deliver.” For the first time, I felt this anxiety of not doing a good job, the exact same feeling I can get now in front of a shoot that really matters to me. I can be scared of not rising to the occasion.After that film, you didn’t work again as an actor for 16 years.“Herman” was an overwhelming experience. I felt like I was playing with explosives. I was dealing with emotions and manipulating my psyche in a way that was kind of frightening.Five Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More

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      Peter Dinklage Calls Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Remake ‘Backward’

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      On Monday’s episode of Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, the “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage said he was stunned to learn that Disney was doing a live-action remake of the 1937 animated film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — and more so, that Disney was proud to announce that it had cast a Latina actress, Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”), as the lead.“Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback,” said Dinklage, who won four Emmys for his role in the HBO fantasy epic. “They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you’re still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me.”“You’re progressive in one way,” he continued, “but you’re still making that [expletive] backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.”“Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox?” he asked. “I guess I’m not loud enough.”Dinklage, who stars in the upcoming film “Cyrano,” an adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s classic play “Cyrano de Bergerac,” said he was not opposed to a remake of the classic fairy tale, as long as it were given a “cool, progressive spin,” he said. “Let’s do it. All in.”In a statement on Tuesday, a Disney spokesperson said that “to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.” Disney added that the film was still a long way out from production.Marc Webb will direct the new “Snow White,” and Gal Gadot has been cast as the Evil Queen. More

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      ‘Compartment No. 6’ Review: Strangers on a Russian Train

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      A young Finnish woman embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes her (and you) through richly detailed and surprising terrain.When the heroine in “Compartment No. 6” gets into a car with a guy who has been giving her nothing but grief, you may silently shriek: What is she thinking? You may also judge her for what looks like a bad decision or damn the filmmaker for putting yet another woman in hackneyed straits. Vulnerable women and dangerous men are clichés, but they’re also turned on their heads in this smart, emotionally nuanced film that rarely goes where you expect.Set in Russia in what seems like the late 1990s — the Soviet Union has collapsed and our girl uses a Walkman — the film mostly takes place on a train from Moscow to the northwest city of Murmansk. It’s there that Laura (Seidi Haarla), a Finnish university student, plans to see the Kanozero petroglyphs, rock drawings dating back five, six thousand years. Her reasons for going aren’t especially clear. She’s in Russia to study the language and expresses an interest in archaeology. Yet her focus is lasered on Irina (Dinara Drukarova), a flirt who opened her flat and bed to Laura but has stayed behind in Moscow.Travel stories are almost invariably metaphoric expeditions with multiple destinations, not all of them literal. That holds true in “Compartment No. 6,” which is partly the story of a young, vague woman’s journey of self-discovery. Laura is already on the move when you first see her, drifting through a party in Irina’s apartment to the sounds of Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug.” In one sense it’s perfect walk-on music: Laura is besotted with Irina. But there’s also something off, even a bit sardonic, about the juxtaposition of Laura, a mousy little blur, and this particular song, with its louche, emphatically unromantic world-weariness.The Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen is a deft fast-sketch artist, a talent that was first beautifully on display in his feature debut, “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki” (2017), about a sweet boxer in love. Minutes into “Compartment No. 6,” you have a rich sense of people and place, and a clear bead on Laura. You see her pleasure and her discontent — you clock the flickering smile and note the nervously bowed head — as she wanders Irina’s flat, a bohemian sprawl filled with books, objets d’art and clever people being clever for one another. Laura tries to fit in, but isn’t anywhere near slick enough.Her sensitive solo act turns into a lively, funny, seemingly incongruous duet soon after she settles into the cramped, dingy train compartment. Her home for much of the rest of the story, it has already been staked out by her fellow traveler, Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov). It’s hostility at first sight, or almost. Initially, they don’t speak to each other — he pulls out a bottle of booze without offering her any — but by the time Laura is making up her berth for the night, Ljoha is plastered. “Russia is a great country,” he all but yells at her, mentioning the defeat of the Nazis before gesturing at the moon: “We went there!”Part of what makes “Compartment No. 6” engrossing and effective is how Kuosmanen plays with tone. In Irina’s apartment, the naturalistic performances, loose camerawork, casual staging and Laura’s visible unease create a sense of intimacy as well as sympathy: All of us have been the awkward guest somewhere. Once the story shifts to the train (the film was shot on moving railroad cars, not soundstages), its claustrophobic spaces and jerky motions help create a threatening intimacy, one that’s compounded by Ljoha’s aggression and Laura’s guardedness. The two characters are equally defensive and mutually antagonistic; yet pinpricks of dry humor also make their belligerence seem more than a little absurd.The days pass and the train stops and starts, other characters enter and exit, and Laura and Ljoha move in and out of the compartment. As they eat, chat and smoke, which they do a lot, their shared enmity starts to fade, giving way to different kinds of gazes, more involved conversations and moments of surprising delicacy and feeling. You could say they enter a period of détente, but although the story evokes a specific historical period — and with it, the transition from the Soviet Union to the new Russia — Kuosmanen steers clear of obvious politics. What interests him are Laura and Ljoha, how they look at each other and don’t, and how by sharing food and talk and a car ride, they reveal themselves.Eventually, the train arrives at its destination and so do Laura and Ljoha, who by then have reached their terminus. In emotional terms, the film reaches its apogee two-thirds in, after Laura loses her camera and all her images of Moscow. She and Ljoha are at the rear of the train, staring out at the foggy night and the softly diffused colored lights of the depot they’ve just left. As the camera holds on this scene of wistful, ephemeral beauty, Laura tells Ljoha about Irina’s life, friends and flat. “I loved it all,” Laura says as darkness swallows the lights. Her voice is filled with longing, but she has already moved on.Compartment No. 6Rated R for vulgar language, boozing and cigarette smoking. In Russian and Finnish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour and 47 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Alec Baldwin Seeks Dismissal of ‘Rust’ Lawsuit

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      Lawyers for the actor Alec Baldwin and other producers behind the film “Rust” filed a motion on Monday seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the movie’s script supervisor, who was feet away from the actor on the movie set in New Mexico when he fatally shot a cinematographer.The script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said in her lawsuit, filed last year, that she was standing nearby when the gun fired a live bullet that killed the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounded the film’s director, Joel Souza. Mitchell then ran out of the wooden church set that had been the backdrop for the scene and called 911.The lawsuit claimed that Ms. Mitchell “sustained serious physical trauma and shock and injury to her nervous system and person” as a result of her proximity to the shooting. It accused Baldwin of “intentionally, without just cause or excuse,” cocking and firing the revolver in a scene that did not call for it.In Monday’s court filing, lawyers for Mr. Baldwin wrote that he could not have intentionally shot a live bullet from the gun because shortly before it discharged, the movie’s first assistant director called out “cold gun,” indicating that the old-fashioned revolver being used as a prop did not contain any live bullets and should have been safe to handle.“It is completely illogical for plaintiff to contend defendant Mr. Baldwin received a prop gun that everyone including plaintiff and defendant Mr. Baldwin expected to be ‘cold,’ while at the same time stating that Mr. Baldwin’s conduct was intentional in accidentally firing a live round,” the filing said.Mr. Baldwin said in a television interview last year that he did not pull the trigger of the gun while he was practicing on set that day. He said he did not fully cock the hammer of the gun, but pulled it back and let it go in an action that might have set it off.The filing from Mr. Baldwin’s and the production’s lawyers also asserted that Ms. Mitchell’s grievance did not qualify as a complaint under New Mexico’s workers’ compensation law.Ms. Mitchell’s lawsuit targeted the production more broadly for making a series of what she called “cost-cutting measures,” including hiring a 24-year-old armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was just starting out her career as a lead armorer in the industry. Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer has said that she was dedicated to safety on set; she filed her own lawsuit against the film’s supplier of guns and ammunition.The production’s court filing said that Ms. Mitchell’s allegations relied on “a list of things that she contends, in hindsight, should or should not have been done” to ensure safety on set; the production’s lawyers argued that her case was insufficient and should be dismissed. More

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      The Black List, Founded in Hollywood, Expands Into Theater

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      The Black List, an effort to boost the careers of undiscovered writers by drawing attention to high-quality unproduced scripts, was formed 17 years ago with a focus on Hollywood. Now the organization is looking to extend its work into theater.The project’s leadership announced Tuesday that it would begin inviting playwrights and musical writers to share their work with gatekeepers in the theater, film and television industries, with the goal of helping them find representation, get feedback and land productions in the theater world or jobs in the film and television world.Four well-regarded nonprofit theaters, Miami New Drama in Florida, the Movement Theater Company in New York, Victory Gardens in Chicago and Woolly Mammoth in Washington, have each agreed to commission a new play or musical from a writer whose work surfaces through the project. The commissions are $10,000 each.“Our fundamental belief is that there’s a lot of amazing playwrights whose opportunities don’t befit their talents,” said Franklin Leonard, who founded the Black List. “If we can rectify that, that’s something we should do.”The Black List started as an annual survey of scripts that Hollywood executives liked but hadn’t turned into films, and the organization says that 440 of those scripts have since been produced. Then the Black List added a for-profit arm that allows writers to post scripts online to bring them to the attention of industry professionals, and which also allows writers, for a fee, to seek script evaluations from readers who work in the industry.(Evaluations cost $100, of which $60 goes to the reader.)Leonard said he and Megan Halpern, the Black List executive spearheading the theater expansion, have been talking with theater industry leaders for months about the idea of broadening the Black List’s scope, with the goal of helping undiscovered playwrights and musical theater writers find work in theater and, possibly, also in film or TV.“What we’ve heard is that people want to find new playwrights, but the reality of wading through the slush pile is insurmountable,” he said. More

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      Jenna Ortega Gets Her Thrills From Radiohead and ‘Paris, Texas’

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      The scream queen talks about her latest film, “The Fallout” on HBO Max, dancing in public and driving in the dark.There’s horror, and then there’s terror. Jenna Ortega now knows the difference.Since her introduction to the macabre as a child in “Insidious: Chapter 2,” the former Disney star, now 19, has shrieked her way through “The Babysitter: Killer Queen,” “Scream,” now in theaters, and the upcoming “X.”“Horror to me, it’s kind of like a second home,” Ortega said. “It’s so comfortable, because you’re not trying to impress anybody.”But her latest role, in “The Fallout” — Megan Park’s examination of trauma in the aftermath of a school shooting — out Thursday on HBO Max, was an exercise in paralyzing silence.Ortega plays 16-year-old Vada, who early in the movie hides in a bathroom stall with her classmate Mia (Maddie Ziegler), hands over mouths and sobs stifled, as a gunman picks off his targets outside; any sound could give away their location. What’s not said in the wake of the violence is nearly as excruciating.“With a film that weighs a lot emotionally, it can be very, very draining,” Ortega said of her first time leading a movie, which is why shooting “Scream” on the heels of wrapping “The Fallout” was a relief.The Return of ‘Scream’Twenty-five years after Wes Craven’s original picture, the franchise is back with another sequel. Review: The latest “Scream” is a slasher movie so enamored of its own mythology that its characters speak of little else, our critic writes. A Familiar Cast: The film brings back Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette. Here is what the actors had to say about their reunion. The Legacy of ‘Scream’: The reason the original endures is that, for all its humor and self-awareness, it’s an actual horror movie.From the Archives: Read what Janet Maslin wrote of the film when it first came out in 1996.“The incredible thing is that people who are on horror sets tend to be a fan of horror — they love the blood and the gore and the monsters,” she said. “You wake up and, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to go to set and get stabbed.’ It’s incredibly exhilarating.”Ortega now finds herself faced with another daunting task: to reimagine the deadpan, smart-mouthed Wednesday Addams as a teenager in “Wednesday,” Tim Burton’s upcoming horror comedy for Netflix.“It’s terrifying,” Ortega said in a late-night video interview from the set in Romania, her hair long and black with a fringe and her eyes ringed in dark circles. Still, Ortega was determined to go big. “Just give it your all, even if it’s too much,” she said.Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. Antique shops I consider myself an amateur antiquarian book collector. I developed a fascination with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I found a collection of his essays from 1879. And not only was I obsessed with the way it looked, but the pages smelled different, the texture was different, and I realized, “Oh, I want to protect this book.” I like having to take care of something, but it’s much easier than a plant because plants can die.2. Wim Wenders’s “Paris, Texas” The first time I watched “Paris, Texas” was the first time I was emotional over a film. It’s just aching with vulnerability. I haven’t seen a lot of slow-burn movies, so I wasn’t expecting it to be as heartbreaking as it was. It doesn’t explain itself too much. You follow Travis [Harry Dean Stanton], and you slowly peel back the layers. Every time I watch it, I forget where I am.3. Avocado rolls I went vegetarian, and any time people asked me what my favorite food was, I’m so indecisive I couldn’t give them an answer. So I would say, “Oh, I love avocados.” And people would say, “But that’s not a meal.” Well, I love sushi and I love avocados, and now it’s my go-to. You know how kids always go with chicken tenders and French fries? Those are my chicken tenders and French fries.4. My Sony headphones I just got them. They’re noise canceling. The sound is amazing. I never have to talk to people when they’re on because they’re big and bulky. I’ve been called “perpetual headphone head” by multiple people because I always have them around my neck. I could not imagine walking around life all day without some sort of background music. Even just feeling the weight of the headphones on my chest brings me some sort of relief.5. Mathieu Kassovitz’s “La Haine” If I were ever going to direct something, it would have to be similar to this. You feel like you know the characters. It exudes life. It’s three boys in Paris talking about police brutality and the struggles they go through in their days. Something that strikes me about this film is that it’ll always be relevant. That’s kind of unfortunate, but I think that there’s something meaningful about that because of how much energy it has.6. Radiohead’s “OK Computer” I was shooting a film called “X” in New Zealand, and I became really, really close friends with Jim, one of the P.A.s [production assistants] on set, who was a huge Radiohead fan. Jim had said that his favorite album was “OK Computer,” and he explained to me the impact that it had on him as a kid growing up. And it became pretty much the only thing I listened to. I was out of the country by myself for the very first time. I had just turned 18 so had that newfound independence. You’re slowly becoming an adult and the world becomes scarier, to be so far from home and learning to do things on my own. So I think because I’m so nostalgic for that time in my life, that album will forever hold immense significance.7. Driving I couldn’t sleep because of the time difference going from Eastern Europe to the West Coast of the U.S. So I was going out every night and driving, and I realized that’s probably when I’m happiest. I’m not talking to anybody. I’m focused. I can roll down the window and taste outside. It’s a freedom that I wish I could experience all the time. That’s another thing, too: You capture some insane views. You become very observant because there’s nothing else to do, especially when you have nowhere really to go.8. Outkast Childhood — that’s what I associate them with. I’ve been listening to them more because, to be honest, I’m very, very tired, and listening to Outkast in the morning is a nice way to wake myself up. My favorite album, at least right now, is “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.”9. Dancing in public One time, I had just arrived in this sleepy town. It was raining really badly, and I ran out into the middle of the street. I had my headphones on, and “You and Me” by Penny & the Quarters was playing. I just started swaying to it, and then I started spinning to it, and I ran into the grocery store, and I came around the corner, and I saw this old woman. And she was laughing at me, and we both just started dancing together right next to the watermelon. And then when the song was over, I did a bow and she did a bow, and we went our separate ways.10. Charlie Kaufman I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything of his that I haven’t liked. Oftentimes you get that question, “If you could play any character in the world, who would you play?” And I always say, “I don’t know exactly who that would be. I just know that they would be written by Charlie Kaufman.” He’s one of those people where you hear his words or you hear the message he’s trying to get across, and that’s when you realize things about yourself. More

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      ‘Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes’ Review: Hello, It’s You

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      In this time-travel comedy, a cafe owner and his friends discover a portal that allows them to see two minutes into the future.More goofy than gripping, Junta Yamaguchi’s sci-fi farce, “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” is a time-travel tale dotted with philosophical musings and romantic expectations. Yet however cleverly constructed and enthusiastically executed, this debut feature — shot on an iPhone in a single location — rarely surmounts the twistiness of its premise and the repetitiveness of its setups.After closing his cafe for the day and retiring to his flat upstairs, Kato (Kazunari Tosa) is stunned to see himself on his television screen, apparently speaking from the linked monitor in the cafe — and from two minutes in the future. Kato and his delighted cohort waste no time in exploiting this marvel, racing up and down stairs and backward and forward in time to interrogate their near-future selves. And when fun experiments with lottery scratch cards have been exhausted, the group’s temporal tinkerings become infinitely more complex and consequential.
      While there is much to admire in this scrappy, micro-budgeted debut feature, its sci-fi shenanigans are too convoluted and its visuals too claustrophobic to sustain interest. Yamaguchi’s skillful editing (he also acted as cinematographer) makes the tumbling momentum of Makoto Ueda’s script appear seamless, and the young, mostly theater-based actors are charmingly eager. Yet the movie’s darkest and most interesting insight is addressed only glancingly as Kato and his friends, with growing unease, realize that their foreknowledge is programming their present behavior.That awareness of the unwelcome implications of seeing one’s future is soon subsumed by the movie’s more preposterous concerns, including the arrival of the time-travel police with memory-wiping powder. Bemused viewers, however, may feel they’ve been sniffing that all along.Beyond the Infinite Two MinutesNot rated. In Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More