A man (Jim Henson) travels through his own mind. He experiences dinner, flying, running, and a series of other typical things as he wanders the deepest trenches of his brain. Time Piece is a stream-of-consciousness work of art that aims to examine the intricacies of the human mind, the way we deal with daily occurrences, and what it means to be human. Writer-Director Henson, before his long career with The Muppets, creates something unique and groundbreaking. Strap in, because you’re in for a bumpy, wild ride.
The world knows Jim Henson as the puppeteer that brought The Muppets to life, and, while he’s done a number of other interesting things, his legacy typically lies within the confines of The Muppets and its many properties (shows, films, Disney attractions, etc.). With that being said, it’s important to understand that Henson had a life before Kermit the Frog, before Miss Piggy, and before the other many lovable characters took the world by storm. It’s clear that these puppets deliver more than just entertainment, they provide the world with a series of messages that shouldn’t be taken lightly–and Henson is the mastermind behind all of that. However, Time Piece is a very different representation of how Henson viewed the world, and how he hoped others would view the world as well.
Time Piece feels fractured, and it even feels incomplete from time to time. Henson is meticulous, and he rarely (if ever) fails to create brilliantly cohesive stories. The seemingly fractured nature of Time Piece is intentional, an honest and scary representation of how our minds work. For those of us that have a lot on their plate–multiple jobs, a family, a house to tend to, etc.–we find ourselves thinking about what feels like a million things at once, and it feels like sometimes those things don’t make much sense. We see fragments of our day pieced together in odd ways, we see strange visuals standing in for what we might expect to see, and the harrowing reality that we have a million and one things to do weighs heavily on us.
I constantly found myself questioning how Henson was able to film certain scenes. It’s clear that he reverse-engineered a series of scenes, but others still remain a mystery to me. Never has there been a film that has required no preparation whatsoever. Filmmakers spend a significant amount of time preparing to create their film(s), but I think for the first time I understood how long and daunting the path toward creating a film was. Time Piece requires a seemingly impossible amount of time to bring it to life–but it’s been done, and it’s beautiful.
The more I watch film, the more I fall in love with it. The relevance of what cinema presents its viewers, the emotional pull, the characters, etc.–they all play a role in how each individual film is received, and Time Piece is brilliant in every way. I’ve had films make me feel crazy, cry, laugh–I’ve even had films that make me angry. However, there are far fewer films that say to me “you’re normal.” Not normal in the sense that I’m plain and exactly like everyone else, but Henson makes it clear that the people that feel the things present in Time Piece aren’t alone. The visuals are impeccable, Henson’s attention to detail is brilliant, his acting is outstanding, but it’s the ability of Time Piece to say to viewers “I see you, I hear you” that makes it so close to perfect.
Written & Directed by Jim Henson.
Starring Jim Henson, Enid Cafritz, Dennis Paget, Jim Hutchinson, Barbara Richman, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
Comments