From Time to Time (2009)
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43% of critics liked it
(7 reviews) -
64% want to see it
(123 ratings)
A boy spending time with his family makes some very unusual friends in this comic fantasy from director Julian Fellowes. It's 1944, and Tolly (Alex Etel) is a boy from Manchester whose mother (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) isn't convinced he's safe in the city while World War II is still on,… More A boy spending time with his family makes some very unusual friends in this comic fantasy from director Julian Fellowes. It's 1944, and Tolly (Alex Etel) is a boy from Manchester whose mother (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) isn't convinced he's safe in the city while World War II is still on, especially since his father went missing while serving in battle. Tolly's mother sends him to spend a few months with his grandmother Linnet (Maggie Smith), who lives in a rattletrap home in the countryside; Tolly's father is her child, and Linnett is worried about his fate, one of the few things the boy's mother and grandmother can agree on. After spending a few days at Linnett's home, Tolly discovers a handful of spectral visitors and learns that the house is haunted. Linnett is on good terms with the spirits, who in life were members of the family, and as he gets to know the ghosts of stalwart Capt. Oldknow (Hugh Bonneville), his loyal wife Maria (Carice van Houten) and their children Susan (Eliza Bennett) and Sefton (Douglas Booth), he learns a great deal about the exciting but sometimes troubled history of the Oldknow Family. Also starring Timothy Spall and Pauline Collins, From Time To Time received its world premiere at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Julian Fellowes
- Written By
- Lucy M. Boston, Julian Fellowes
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Studio
- Freestyle Digital Media
Critic Reviews
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Renee Schonfeld, Common Sense Media
Heartfelt family drama with ghosts and scary fire scene.
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Mark R. Leeper, Mark Leeper's Reviews
a reminder of how enchanting a fantasy can still be if not taking over by digital imagery, if it has a few interesting characters and a few nice touches of plotting
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Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
Has there been a movie with such an artificial and unengaging style since... well, the fifties?
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Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
Movies are supposed to whisk you away, to make you get lost in their stories. I never got lost in From Time to Time because I was continually aware of the pieces being assembled before me.
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Simon Weaving, Screenwize
This family film - that mixes Regency ghosts and a rambling, secret-filled mansion - lacks oomph and charm despite its top shelf cast, including Maggie Smith and Timothy Spall.
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