There's a lot to see in "Timecode." Unfortunately, there's not a lot that's interesting.
This audacious comedy-drama from filmmaker Mike Figgis works better as an idea on paper than it does when executed on celluloid. Figgis' main concept here is using digital cameras to film the cast doing "structured" improvising for 93 minutes. That footage is then shown simultaneously in four separate quadrants on screen.
However, this muddled mess is more interesting as a technical filmmaking exercise than as a vibrant, energetic piece of fiction. Also, it's not a movie for those with short attention spans since there are sometimes four different story lines going on at once.
Fortunately, the sound volume in each scene has been altered to direct the audience's attention to one quadrant at a time.
Where the film really fails is its plotting, which recalls Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" but with all of the stories running concurrently. Probably the most prominent of them involves aspiring actress Rose (Salma Hayek) and her jealous lover Lauren (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Things have gotten so bad between the two that Lauren has taken to spying on Rose with a microphone hidden in her purse.
It seems Lauren may have good reason to be suspicious, though. Rose is trying to sleep her way into a job by carrying on an affair with self-destructive motion-picture executive Alex Green (Stellan Skarsgard).
Meanwhile, Alex's exasperated co-workers (Xander Berkeley, Steven Weber and Holly Hunter) are trying to get him to pay attention at work — they're pushing a temperamental director (Richard Edson) to get his film finished.
And at the same time, Alex's wife (Figgis muse Saffron Burrows) finds herself unable to deal with his philandering and alcoholism.
Almost all of these people will find themselves brought together by fate, either through a natural disaster or by even stranger circumstances.
Technically, it is brilliant, and Figgis deserves a lot of credit for even coordinating such a Herculean effort.
But his screenwriting leaves something to be desired. In particular, none of the characters is all that interesting, and the film-industry-parody-within-a-film seems pretty hypocritical, considering how pretentious this whole idea is.
Considering they're improvising, the performances are surprisingly strong. Skarsgard commands attention as always, while Tripplehorn is amazing — especially when you consider how long she's on camera for one extended take.
"Timecode" is rated R for use of strong profanity, simulated drug use (cocaine and marijuana), simulated sex, violence (a shooting) and brief gore. Running time: 97 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com