What would you do if you invented a time machine? The answer is likely to be different depending on the individual. Some, selfishly, would go back and use their knowledge to become incredibly rich and famous. Or change events from their own lives, to erase those bad decisions. Others. with a more altruistic bent, would try and prevent or change the most horrific events of history, in order to make a better today. In Summer Time Machine Blues, a group have a much more banal objective.
The university’s Sci-Fi club meets at the same time at the same place most days during summer. To hang out, play sports and generally have fun. The Photography Club is banished to the dark room. It’s so hot though, but luckily they have their trusty air-con unit to keep them cool. Then tragedy strikes and the remote is broken, with imminent repair looking unlikely. They’re saved when a mysterious student and a time machine appear the next day.
As the popularity of last year’s Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes attests, time travel stories still entertain and fascinate in equal measure. Summer Time Machine Blues caused a small stir in Japan back in 2005 but has gone on to be a cult classic and it’s easy to see why. Katsuyuki Motohiro’s comedy goes at a frenetic pace, it’s wildly inventive and impossible not to enjoy. That’s the winning spirit which makes Summer Time Machine Blues almost timeless itself.
Special features:
- Interview with creator Makoto Ueda (30 mins)
- 2 time-travel short films from Makoto Ueda: ‘A Little Fugue of Love’ (14 mins) / ‘Time Machine’ (5 min)
- Play vs Film Comparison (25 mins)
- Original Trailer
Summer Time Machine Blues is released on Blu-ray by Third Window Films on 4 July.
