Vella Lovell

(On Cable TV, July 2021) As someone who spent a lot of time reading prose Science Fiction, and who had a strong preference for scientifically plausible SF (save for an FTL handwave or two), I always get curiously annoyed by science fiction film that take a loose and fuzzy approach to their imaginary devices. Sure, I’ll allow that Speed of Life, which riffs off David Bowie themes in a way that’s closer to fantasy than SF, is not meant to be rigorous or even rational. It starts with an argument between an ill-matched couple, which gets interrupted mid-stream by the man falling into a wormhole that just opens in their living room. Fast-forwarding thirty years later, the woman (who’s about to flee the US for Canada due to restrictions on what 60+ years old can do) sees her life change when the wormhole re-opens and the man walks out, not understanding what’s happening. That, by itself, is a silly but workable Science Fictional premise, especially as the characters (and those around them) struggle with the consequences of having a man out of time in their midst, and how relationships are altered by this intrusion. Speed of Life’s willingness to present a future not unlike the present is blunt and not really sensical (has no one noticed that 60+ years old vote a lot?) but it’s there and tips the film toward genre-based assessments. There are a few good moments along the way: Ann Dowd is rather good as the older woman who sees a past love re-emerge into her life, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Vella Lovell in other films. Speed of Life occasionally scores good character-based moments, but it gets increasingly ludicrous and unfulfilling the longer it goes on. By the time the characters hop in time-travelling wormholes at will, the shaky rigour of the premise is completely shot and anything can happen — limiting the consequences of the choices. I also kept waiting for the film to at least acknowledge how the woman’s memory of the relationship was belied by what we saw (anyone witnessing that opening argument would think that a breakup was the only outcome), but that’s a topic that Speed of Life seems unwilling to confront.   In the end, a mildly intriguing opening ends up deflating to a big blob of incoherence and missed opportunities. While I like that writer-director Liz Manashil took Bowie’s death personally enough to create a film about it, the result stops well short of offering satisfaction, and feels undercooked at 76 minutes.