Siblings Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) abscond to a safehouse after stealing some money. It's a particularly safe safehouse, too: By performing a ritual with the abandoned farmhouse's clocks, the fugitives can jump out of time into a sort of isolated time loop and wait out two weeks without any fear of anyone finding them.
The catch (of course there's a catch) is that they're not supposed to be there. As Joseph and Sidney end their stay outside of time, they discover that the loop is run by a shady outfit which are unwilling to let them out. They give our protagonists an ultimatum: either get rid of another intruder who's been meddling with their timeloop, or get erased from existence. So the siblings are stuck, unable to return to their lives until they deal with a menace that may not exist.
It's an original, compelling setup with well-written, likeable characters and some good tension. The biggest and most distinctive thing the movie has going for it, though, is its inscrutability - it's spelled out explicitly that some things will not be explained to the characters (and by extension, the audience). The plot does end up making sense, but only just about, and it leaves a lot up in the air. In that I don't think it's wholly successful, despite some clever ideas and a solid, emotional ending. Much better handled is the weirdness and sense of mystery behind the Vise, as the organization running the time loop calls itself.
Writer/director Michael Felker has been filmmaker duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's editor for more than a decade now (starting on their V/H/S segment; They produced the film through their Rustic films imprint, and Benson makes an appearance as one of the operators of the time loop.) Felker's chilly, quiet style complements the material well, and the soundtrack by Jimmy Lavalle (of the great post-rock band Tristeza - highly recommend their album En Nuestro Desafío) and Michael A. Muller is excellent.
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