Map Of Tiny Perfect Things Is A Silly Time Loop Confection

The  Map Of Tiny Perfect Things(Amazon Prime)

Starring Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen.

Directed  by  Ian Samuels

Rating: **

No sillier  film have I seen  in recent times. Unless  we consider that  other loopy time-loop inanity Palm Spring.What’s with this fixation on getting caught in a time-loop? We saw the theme being  handled with a vestige of  panache during old times  when in  Groundhog Day (1996) day Bill Murray found himself reliving the same  same day  over and  over again.  Now  during the  frozen monotony  brought on  by the Covid when every day does seem the same to a lot of people,given the  milieu of inescapable confinement  ,  an airy  frorthy  time-loop  film seems like cruel joke, the ‘joke’ being on  those who sat together  to concoct this breezy plum pudding posturing as a  solemn  take on time and existence.

At the most  The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things is one of those  watch-and-forget flicks that  promise some ruminative   moments  in a milieu of blithe banter and giddyheaded romance as  two time-loop victims(if we may call them  victims, as we have no idea  how much they enjoy reliving the same day  over and  over again in a film as monotonous as its theme)  meet and…well.. you now the  rest.

Mark and Margaret, as played by Kyle Allen and Kathryn Newton, are seen to share an affinity for  same-day monotony. I don’t know how it works for them.For me  watching them scamper  through  a day of  idle  do-gooding in a town that looks like it could do with some excitement, is  sheer indolence  .But the two actors specially Miss Newton, are easy on  the  eyes if not as  breezy with their lips as they would like to be.

 The  film wears a heavy air of monotonous selfindulgence  . It keeps making references to time-loop films  just to remind us that this  film is  not afraid of being  called out for ennui.Towards  the  last loop of storytelling the  going gets heavyhanded with  Mark’s Dad issues  amd Margaret’s Mom issues colliding in a  constellation  of   quick-fix crisis. 

There is  no dramatic tension  in  this film. Everything  seems pre-ordained including the final   skip out  of  the time-loop.The film suffers from an absence  of  seriousness and  an excess of self-importance.  They want us to forget Groundhog Day.But every failed  jibe at time’s vicissitudes  reminds  us  of that other time-loop classic. Watch that  instead.