So you’ve been stuck in a time loop, cursed to relive the same day over and over and over again for ten years. But one morning you wake up and it’s tomorrow. What now? Tons of films deal with what it’s like to be endlessly stuck in the same day, some funny, some horrific, but not many, if any, deal with the aftermath. What do you do when you can finally move on? How do you cope? What does that do to your mind and your heart? This is the core idea that drives Mia Moore and Heather Ballish’s feature Again Again.
Aggie, short for Agatha, played by Moore, is the one who was stuck in the time loop, and the film focuses primarily on her and her relationship with Tess (Aria Taylor). They’re childhood friends but also on-again-off-again lovers. Just to complicate matters further, on what was supposed to be Tess’s wedding day, she ran off with Aggie in a stolen RV. An RV stolen from Tess’s fiancé. Eventually, they dig more into the cause of the time loop, though that largely takes a back seat to the exploration of these two characters and their bond, history, and connection.
[Related Reading: SIFF 2026 WTF Shorts]
The narrative bounces back and forth between the now, when Aggie has become unfrozen in time, and the repeating day of her last decade. We witness conversations and scenes between Aggie and Tess play out in different ways, with different results, with different information divulged. One character essentially experiences all of this once, while for the other it accumulates and changes her. For example, for one, the wedding was yesterday and fresh, for the other, it was years ago and fading. Aggie must come to terms with how she’s changed and grown, and how she hasn’t, as well as with the fact that her actions now have consequences, that she won’t wake up tomorrow with everything reset back to zero.
Navigating relationships is complicated and messy in the best of times, and Again Again never shies away from that. And Aggie is messy as hell. She uses pot and booze and snark, along with a rotating slate of one-night stands, to shield herself from her feelings. The film does a fantastic job of living in that untidy gray area, including her struggling with how to move forward when it wasn’t an option. At first, she’s ecstatic, she can get high and go to the D-derby, which was always tomorrow, always just out of reach. Finally, something new. But with that excitement and freedom comes fear. Inside the time loop she was safe, but now she can die, she can hurt, she can be hurt. It’s so much to deal with all at once—quiet moments, painful moments, joyous moments—and Moore, as writer, director, and star, makes room for it all.
[Related Reading: 'Marama' Movie Review]
This space to let the characters be themselves, to reveal themselves to the audience and each other, is a huge part of what makes the film feel so natural and them feel so rounded. Aggie’s experience as a Trans woman and Tess’s questioning of her sexuality —she loves Aggie, but was also about to marry a man—are significant pieces of who they are, but no single element defines them. They’re allowed to be knots of conflicting emotions, changing, contradictory thoughts, and irrationally hurt feelings. But they’re also goofy and romantic and horny and over it and all the rest of the things that come with being human. Who knows if they’ll stay together, or even if they should, but it’s compelling to watch in the dreamy, meditative, sweet, earnest, achingly romantic package that is Again Again. [Grade: A]
Find all of our SIFF 2026 coverage here.
No comments:
Post a Comment