Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Still Time’ on Netflix, A Workaholic Fable Where Time Literally Flies

How fitting that the protagonist of Still Time, a new Netflix original, be named Dante. For this character is about to experience his own personal inferno. For a calculating capitalist who sees time as money, hell is not other people. Hell is losing control of time.

STILL TIME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Middle-aged Italian corporate drone Dante (Edoardo Leo) tends to tune out his family life and fast-forward mentally through the biggest moments of his life. But after one instance of particular negligence, some great cosmic force decides to humble him before the altar of time. Every few hours, Dante skips ahead a year. He hasn’t changed and isn’t aware of the time that has elapsed, but everyone else has gone on living as if Dante were just on autopilot. (So, basically, like he already is.) Each lurch forward brings him further from the people he loves … yet closer to the realization of what actually matters in life.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s got vibes like Click, About Time, or Groundhog Day – any movie that features a male protagonist who comes to realize his lack of control over time and what it takes to make each moment really count.

Performance Worth Watching: Everything in Still Time is played pretty low-key and lifelike, so nothing really jumps out as capital-A “Acting.” Star Edoardo Leo as Dante deserves some flowers for having to pull off the tricky task of selling the magical realist gambit of the story with little more than his own incredulous reactions.

Memorable Dialogue: Late in the film, the meaning of the story clicks into place when Dante is finally spending some quality time with his daughter Galadriel (yes, named after the Lord of the Rings character – the movie gives good reason for the risible homage). “What is that I could do better?” he asks her, almost as if asking an employee for feedback. “More time, please,” Galadriel simply and devastatingly replies.

Sex and Skin: There’s a bit of frisky foreplay initiated by Alice (Barbara Ronchi) to get Dante in the mood, often featuring fun cultural references, but it never progresses to any frisky business.

Our Take: The Netflix logline for Still Time describes it as a “dramedy,” a sub-genre that usually implies a tonal balance that vacillates between belly laughs and belly-aches. Alessandro Aronadio’s film, co-written with Renato Sannio, mostly plods along without much strong mood or feeling beyond general situational tension and overall pleasantness. It’s a nice movie about nice people learning to get in touch with their inner niceness. Aronadio doesn’t do anything particularly novel with the time-bending concept nor the lessons it teaches the protagonist, but the film does not proclaim any grand ambitions beyond its resting state of gentle goodness. It’s the cinematic equivalent of chicken tenders – good enough because you know exactly what you’re getting, and that’s hard to mess up (or make a masterpiece of).

Our Call: STREAM IT! Still Time makes for a fine way to kill some time. It’s by no means a revolutionary take on the workaholic humbling tale, but it’s got a good heart and enough entertainment value to make for a worthwhile enough watch.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Watch Still Time on Netflix