Dealing with toxic exes is a pain in the arse no matter what, but things get a lot worse if they start travelling through time. In Needle in a Timestack, Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. and The Outsider’s Cynthia Erivo star as a couple madly in love. That is, until the woman’s ex travels back through time to temp the man with his ex. And those exes are played by Lord of the Rings’ Orlando Bloom and Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto.
Yes, there are lots of very beautiful people competing for various affections in Needle in a Timestack, which is written and directed by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) is based on a short story by Robert Silverberg. Here’s the trailer.
The biggest sell here is certainly the idea of one person’s ex travelling through time to break up their former partner’s current relationship using their ex’s partner’s ex (deep breath), and yet the movie itself seems to focus more on Odom’s side of the story. From the beginning of the trailer you see he utilises time travel too. You wonder, is this an offensive or defensive manoeuvre? His demeanour is calm enough to make it seem unrelated to the assault by Bloom and Pinto — unless maybe he’s the reason the ball got rolling on this very complicated scheme in the first place.
Its multi-award winning cast and Oscar-calibre filmmaker, taken with its blend of the sci-fi and romance genres, makes Needle in a Timestack seem very intriguing. That this might be the first time you’ve heard of it and that it’s being released on a relatively small scale by Lionsgate is a bit less encouraging. Nevertheless, you have to imagine the people involved alone will make this one worth watching.
Needle in a Timestack opens in select theatres, plus on demand and digital October 15. That’s quickly followed by a DVD/Blu-ray release on October 19.