Originally composed on music sheets by director Mike Figgis (Internal Affairs, Leaving Las Vegas) and shot in one continuous 93-minute take on four digital cameras all running simultaneously, Timecode offers one of contemporary cinema's most audacious and exhilarating experiences.
Utilising a quartered screen format to dazzling effect, Figgis' multi-narrative drama plays out against the backdrop of an important casting session at Red Mullet Films - the name of Figgis' own company. During the entertaining insight into the shallow mores of various LA types, an affair will unfold and a murder will be committed.
Working without a script and relying upon improvisation from an impressively assembled array of acting talent (Salma Hayek, Kyle MacLachlan, Saffron Burrows, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Stellan Skarsgard are just a few of those who feature), Figgis walks a creative tightrope, juggling overlapping audio and visual elements from the parallel narrative strands. Encouraging the viewer to fully participate and in effect act as his or her own editor, Timecode is symptomatic of the increasingly experimental uncompromising, maverick approach to film-making.