Time (2020 film)
Time is a 2020 American documentary film produced and directed by Garrett Bradley.[3] It follows Sibil Fox Richardson, fighting for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year prison sentence.
Time | |
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Directed by | Garrett Bradley |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Music by |
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Cinematography |
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Edited by | Gabriel Rhodes |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Amazon Studios |
Release date |
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Running time | 81 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | < $10 million[2] |
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020, where it won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award. It was released theatrically on October 9, 2020, and digitally on Prime Video on October 16, 2020 by Amazon Studios.
Plot
The film follows Sibil Fox Richardson (also known as Fox Rich), an entrepreneur, abolitionist, author, and mother of six, as she fights for the release of her husband, Rob, serving a 60-year prison sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary for bank robbery. Rich served three and a half years for her role in the robbery. The film combines original footage with home videos.[4][5][6]
Production
Bradley met Rich in 2016 while working on her short film Alone, a New York Times Op-Doc.[4][7] She intended to make a short documentary about Rich, but when shooting wrapped, Rich gave Bradley a bag of mini-DV tapes containing some 100 hours of home videos she had recorded over the previous 18 years. At that point, Bradley transitioned the short into a feature.[4][8][9]
Time was shot on a Sony FS7 camera and finished in black and white.[7] It was selected for the 2019 Sundance Documentary Edit & Story Lab.[10] The score features original compositions by Jamieson Shaw and Edwin Montgomery,[11] as well as music by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou that was recorded in the 1960s.[7][8][12] The film was produced by Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn, and Bradley. Laurene Powell Jobs, Davis Guggenheim, Nicole Stott, Rahdi Taylor, and Kathleen Lingo are executive producers, Jonathan Silberberg and Shannon Dill are co-executive producers, and Dan Janvey is co-producer.[5]
Release
Time had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020.[13] In February 2020, Amazon Studios acquired its distribution rights.[14] It also screened at the New York Film Festival on September 20, 2020.[15][16] It was released theatrically on October 9, 2020, and on Prime Video on October 16, 2020.[17]
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Time holds an approval rating of 98% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Time delivers a powerful broadside against the flaws of the American justice system -- and chronicles one family's refusal to give up against all odds."[18] At Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[19]
Peter Debruge of Variety wrote that the film "will almost certainly rewire how Americans think about the prison-industrial complex" as it "challenges the assumption that incarceration makes the world a safer place."[20] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "gripping," describing it as a "concise and impressionistic account of love and waiting, of the American justice system and the fight to keep a family whole."[4] David Ehrlich of Indiewire gave it an A- and wrote, "Bradley's monumental and enormously moving 'Time' doesn't juxtapose the pain of yesterday against the hope of tomorrow so much as it insists upon a perpetual now. And while the documentary never reduces its subjects to mere symbols of the oppression they represent - the film couldn't be more personal, and it builds to a moment of such unvarnished intimacy that you can hardly believe what you're watching."[6]
Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times said the film is "a dazzling formal feat, but more than that, it's a profoundly sad movie about what it means to grow up without a father, to absorb that blow continually, day after day."[21] Ashley Clark of Filmmaker magazine wrote that the film's "graceful compositions, flowing sonic landscape and at times breathtaking interpolation of Fox Rich's home video archive footage cohere to form a singularly powerful experience."[7]
Accolades
At the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Bradley won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary competition,[22] becoming the first African American woman to win in the that category.[23] At the 2020 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the film won the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award and the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award.[24] It won the James Blue Award at the 2020 Ashland Independent Film Festival.[25]
Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
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Film Independent Spirit Awards | April 22, 2021 | Best Documentary Feature | Time | Pending | [26] |
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 16, 2020 | Best Documentary | Nominated | [27] | |
Best Narration | Fox Rich | Nominated | |||
Best Director | Garrett Bradley | Nominated | |||
Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary | Fox Rich | Won | |||
Gotham Independent Film Awards | January 11, 2021 | Best Documentary | Won | [28] | |
Audience Award | Nominated | ||||
International Documentary Association | January 16, 2021 | Best Director | Garrett Bradley | Won | [29] |
Best Feature | Nominated | ||||
Best Cinematography | Nisa East & Zac Manuel & Justin Zweifach | Nominated | |||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | December 20, 2020 | Best Documentary Film | Won | [30] | |
Best Editing | Gabriel Rhodes | Runner-up | |||
National Society of Film Critics Awards | January 9, 2021 | Best Non-Fiction Film | Won | [31] | |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | December 18, 2020 | Best Non-Fiction Film | Won | [32] | |
London Film Critics Circle Awards | February 7, 2021 | Documentary of the Year | Pending | [33] | |
Black Film Critics Circle Awards | January 21, 2020 | Best Documentary | Won | [34] | |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | December 21, 2020 | Best Documentary | Nominated | [35] | |
Sundance Film Festival | February 1, 2020 | U.S. Documentary Competition - Directing | Garrett Bradley | Won | [36] |
Grand Jury Prize | Nominated | ||||
Cinema Eye Honors | March 9, 2021 | The Unforgettables | Fox Rich | Won | [37] |
Audience Choice Prize | Pending | ||||
Outstanding Achievement in Direction | Garrett Bradley | Pending | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score | Edwin Montgomery & Jamieson Shaw | Pending | |||
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film | Garrett Bradley | Pending | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking | Pending | ||||
Outstanding Achievement in Editing | Gabriel Rhodes | Pending | |||
Producers Guild of America Awards | March 24, 2021 | Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures | Time | Pending | [38] |
References
- "Time". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
- Spangler, Todd (October 27, 2020). " Borat 2 Drew 'Tens of Millions' of Viewers Over Opening Weekend, Amazon Says". Variety. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- Garrett Bradley's 'Time' Sets Theatrical Debut, Amazon Prime Launch - Variety
- Linden, Sheri (25 January 2020). "'Time': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Morgan, Jillian (21 February 2020). "Amazon Studios acquires Garrett Bradley Sundance doc "Time"". Real Screen. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Ehrlich, David (3 February 2020). "'Time' Review: A Poignant and Monumental Portrait of Mass Incarceration in America". Indiewire. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Clark, Ashley (7 July 2020). "The Past in the Present". Filmmaker. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Taubin, Amy (31 January 2020). "Interview: Garrett Bradley". Film Comment. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Dobbins, April (4 March 2020). "Time and Mucho Mucho Amor Top Miami Film Festival 2020's Documentary Offerings". Miami New Times. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ""Feels as if Time Is Unspooling in Front of Our Eyes": Editor Gabriel Rhodes on Time". Filmmaker. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Saito, Stephen (29 January 2020). "Sundance 2020 Review: Garrett Bradley Conveys the Great Power of "Time"". Moveable Fest. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Smith, Michael Glover. "Interview with TIME director Garrett Bradley". Cinefile. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- Siegel, Tatiana (December 4, 2019). "Sundance Unveils Female-Powered Lineup Featuring Taylor Swift, Gloria Steinem, Abortion Road Trip Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
- Siegel, Tatiana (February 20, 2020). "Amazon Nabs Sundance Doc 'Time' for $5 Million (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
- "58th New York Film Festival Main Slate Announced". New York Film Festival. August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
- "Time". New York Film Festival. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
- Rubin, Rebecca (August 13, 2020). "Garrett Bradley's Documentary 'Time' Sets Theatrical Debut Before Launching on Amazon Prime Video (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
- "Time (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- "Time Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- Debruge, Peter (4 February 2020). "'Time': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Chang, Justin (3 February 2020). "Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang wrap up the 2020 Sundance Film Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- "Directing Award: U.S. Documentary — Time". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
- Boone, Keyaira (3 February 2020). "Black Women Take Home Top Directing Awards At Sundance Film Festival". Essence. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- "2020 Award Winners". fullframefest.org. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- LaBerge, Madison (17 June 2020). "Ashland Independent Film Festival announces winners virtually". Fox 26 Medford. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always,' 'Minari,' 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' 'Nomadland' Top Nominations|Hollywood Reporter
- Critics Choice Documentary Awards Winners - Variety
- Gotham Awards 2020: Winners List|IndieWire
- IDA Awards: ‘Crip Camp’ Wins Best Feature, Garrett Bradley Best Director|IndieWire
- ‘Small Axe’ Series Wins LAFCA Despite Not Being Submitted for Oscars - Variety
- 'Nomadland' Named Best Picture by National Society of Film Critics|Hollywood Reporter
- New York Film Critics Circle 2020 Winners —— Live Updates|IndieWire
- FEMALE FILMMAKERS LEAD NOMINEES FOR THE CRITICS’ CIRCLE FILM AWARDS|The Critics' Circle
- Black Film Critics Circle: 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Named Best Film of Year (Exclusive)|Hollywood Reporter
- ‘Nomadland’ chosen as 2020’s best movie by Chicago film critics - Chicago Sun-Times
- Sundance Film Festival 2020 Complete Winners List - Variety
- 'Time' Leads Influential Cinema Eye Honors Nominations|IndieWire
- Tangcay, Jazz (February 2, 2021). "'Truffle Hunters,' 'Time' and 'Dick Johnson Is Dead' Among Producers Guild Doc Nominations". Variety. Retrieved February 3, 2021.