Time Warp

Have you noticed all the movies and TV shows recently that employ some sort of time alteration? The movie The Lake House and the new TV series "Daybreak" are two I've recently watched. I've also written two time-travel stories (a novel and a novella.) Why are we so fascinated by the ability to alter time? Because it's probably impossible and we can't resist a challenge? Because we all secretly wish we could travel forward or backward in time temporarily to see what things would be like, or maybe to change something? What a great way to do research, huh?

"Daybreak" is similar to the movie of several years ago, Groundhog Day, in which the same day keeps repeating over and over until the main character "gets it right," changes, or does whatever he is supposed to do to set things straight. Groundhog day, a comedy, was one of my favorite movies but I know people who hated it and even thought their VHS tape was defective, because they couldn't understand why the character always woke up in the same place at the same time. Daybreak is a bit different in that there's nothing funny about it. It's serious drama, action, and suspense.

The main character, Detective Brett Hopper, played by Taye Diggs, is a policeman who is being framed for the murder of an assistant DA. If events play out as they do in the original day, he is quickly arrested and thrown into jail. And his girlfriend murdered. If he doesn't confess to the murder of the assistant DA, his sister and her two children will be killed as well, the bad guy promises. So he must prevent himself from being arrested, save his girlfriend's life and do a lot of other stuff before things are set right.

One unusual and interesting element is that if he sustains an injury, like a gunshot wound, he still has the injury on the next repeat day. (But no one else does.) So that means that everything is not as it was before. Thus far, a few variations of the day have played out, all very different and interesting. I can foresee lots of plot twists and turns being used as he tries to gain control of this day, the worst day of his life. This has all the elements of great fiction. The advice of "throw as many stumbling blocks in front of your character as possible" has been employed with a vengeance. This is a fantastic series, and can't wait to see the next episode.

As for the movie, The Lake House, staring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, I highly recommend it as a great romantic movie. The time element is different from anything I've seen and boils down to a magical mailbox which sends letters through time. (The USPS is not involved.) The main characters live and fall in love two years apart but these two alternate realities are going on at the same time. It's very emotional and has a couple twists I didn't expect. You can see the movie trailer here... http://thelakehousemovie.warnerbros.com/