MovieChat Forums > Time Lapse (2015) Discussion > Surely the answer to their whole problem...

Surely the answer to their whole problem was much simpler, right???

posted 9 years ago by technovator-38623
6 replies | jump to latest

Okay, why did they not simply comply with the conditions of any given photo, then simply not look at the next one?? prior to knowing the existence of the camera they carried on as normal without knowing what was on the photos on the guy's wall right?... So surely by not looking at the next photo they would have exited the loop.

They could then have further out-smarted the loop by simply sticking the betting results on the window as normal and closing the blinds behind it. Then no one would know what was going on in the room behind, hence no positioning for the photo would be needed.

Also... How exactly accurate did the positioning have to be? How could anyone accurately position themselves and the objects precisely to the camera's requirements? Are we saying that a head tilted one degree out of position would result in disaster?

[–] trustnoone81 9 years ago

I agree, not looking at the pictures would've interrupted the paradox. I've thought exactly what you said while I was watching the film. But you'd have to put yourself in the characters' mindset. From their point of view (possibly because of limited knowledge of predestination and/or philosophy), once they saw the first picture they were caught in a vicious circle where, if they didn't compulsively check the picture for the future every night, they wouldn't know what to replicate and therefore risk creating a paradox.

As for the accuracy of positioning, I think all they had to do in order to fulfill their "destiny" was to not create circumstances that would patently contradict the future (eg. not destroy the easel, or paint the sofa another colour, or be somewhere else) and at the same time make a conscious effort to at least attempt what is depicted in the picture (eg. start painting, look towards the painting, smile at the camera). Once those two conditions where verified, everything else would fall into place automatically and things would be exactly as in the picture, with no margin of difference.

[–] FeyeLM 9 years ago

If they didn't look at the picture, the camera would have accounted for it, the same as if they had destroyed the easel, changed the sofa etc. etc. it would have been shown in the picture, no matter what they did, it already was to happen whether they look at the picture or not.
If they decided to deliberately change what they had seen in the picture, it would have resulted in the picture anyway as the camera foresaw that they would have tried to change things.

[–] carl_johnson-1 9 years ago

Right. And in no way does "not looking at a picture" exit them from the camera's control. The guys didn't see Callie's 8am photos and they still got killed. They didn't see the photo that got Mr. B killed until the day before it came to pass, yet it essentially cemented all their actions over that entire two week period covered in the film. The bookie didn't see any photos before he was "forced" to show up at the apartment.

Not looking helps not at all.

[–] FrogFlanker 9 years ago

They had to look because of greedy and love. Jasper wants to get rich, and Callie wants to win back Finn, so they want to look at the next one. Finn is the only one that is rational and wants to quit, but the other two drags him alone for the ride. In the end their problem is not the machine or time, it's human nature.

[–] Rayvio 9 years ago

Finn's pretty guilty of the same flaw himself. there's one point in the movie where it's Callie trying to talk him into quitting (although it does later turn out she was just as obsessed despite her accusing him of the same obsession) but he's too obsessed with the paintings to quit

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I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me...
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[–] kmh12177 9 years ago

Also... How exactly accurate did the positioning have to be? How could anyone accurately position themselves and the objects precisely to the camera's requirements? Are we saying that a head tilted one degree out of position would result in disaster?

There are a lot of assumptions everyone has been making about this movie ... and this touches on one of them.

If they weren't in the photos as they saw them, something bad would happen to them - like Mr. B, as his journal states that he thinks he sees a photo that shows his death and tries to prevent it - "messing with time".

This is only the opinion of the 3 main characters when they find Mr. B's body and cannot explain how he died, which is actually established later by his Dr. friend who sees the dropped, cracked canister and tells them exactly the cause of death - nothing to do with time at all.