Expanding his own short, director Chris Reading blends documentary, comedy, and sci-fi in this entertaining, easy-to-like, very British movie.
Ruth and Megan (Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson) run a vintage shop in Muswell Hill. One day, while scavenging for stock, they come across a discarded time machine, which they then use to visit various points in history and bring back artefacts to sell. With their landlord (Simon Killick) threatening to shut them down and turn the place into luxury flats, they make more trips back in time, unknowingly putting them in danger.
Meanwhile, a local group of amateur inventers (led by the bureaucratic Guy Henry), who include the time machine’s creator in its number (played by Brian Bovell), must aid the girls when Megan becomes stuck in a hell scape known as ‘the Unreason’.
Despite playing opposite the numerous famous names involved here, real-life vintage shop owners Ruth and Megan (playing versions of themselves) breezily hold their own. For all the comedic time travel (as well as Megan being lost in time, Ruth brilliantly lives as a younger version of herself for a while), the focus is mainly on the relatable aspect of friendship. Be it the shop owners, or the estranged pairing of Bovell and Johnny Vegas’ character, Robert. Having created the time machine and experiencing the Unreason for themselves, they lost touch with each other despite being close buddies and colleagues on an old science TV show (in which Vegas plays the inquisitive robot ‘Botty’) when Robert couldn’t deal with what he’d been through. There’s also a wry interpretation of the very Britishness of the ‘club’ of inventers.
While being very localised with its scope might on paper limit its appeal, the comedy (for the most part) and heartfelt message is universal. There’s a Python-esque slant to the surreal, nightmarishly rules-heavy Unreason, in which Jane Horrocks and Mark Heap play games for their freedom that will never come.
Clearly working on a low budget, Chris Reading and co-writer/producers Anna-Elizabeth and Hillary Shakespeare put every penny on screen and while some effects are quite ‘quaint’, it all adds to the Britishness of the movie. Which makes it even more irresistible.
