Futra Days (2024) Review

Futra Days (2024) Review

Miserable, alone and reeling from a bad breakup, musician Sean (Brandon Sklenar) sees no way out, that is until he meets the beautiful Nichole (Tania Raymonde). For Sean it’s love at first sight, but he’s determined to make sure this new relationship doesn’t leave him broken hearted again.

When Sean meets Dr Felicia Walter (Rosanna Arquette), she offers to help him travel through time to spy on his future self, so he can assess whether a life with Nichole is possible. Despite many warnings not to interfere with his future, Sean cannot resist and starts to fall deeply in love with a woman he hardly knows.

But there’s devastating consequences… Sean soon learns the hard way that time travel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as his past and future selves begin to intertwine and cracks in both his relationship and reality begin to form…

The film’s marketing blurb makes a comparison to director Charlie Kaufman’s excellent 2004 movie ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND whereby an estranged couple seek to have their memories of each other erased only for Jim Carrey’s character Joel Barish decide that he no longer wants those memories wiped. It’s a quirky, well-acted and often surreal flick that won the critics over and was a box-office success. Can director Ryan David’s FUTRA DAYS live up such a comparison? Unfortunately, no.

Lead male character Sean is looking to keep his new love Nichole in his life rather than end up alone and heartbroken again, and yet at no point during this film did I see him put any work in. Also, quite what he sees in her I just cannot fathom, she’s constantly on the attack and extremely hard to like. There’s absolutely zero chemistry and given how dialogue-heavy this time-travel based flick is you’d expect there to be a chatty dynamic between them both to draw you in. There isn’t.

Their conversations are dull – for example, their ‘spoon’ conversation with intimation accents. If this is meant to convey naturalism and chemistry, then sorry I don’t buy it. At one point a woman comes up to speak with Nichole and Sean then starts slurping his drink of wine loudly and rudely.

When Sean later returns from a toilet break Nichole scolds him for not texting her when he’s in the bathroom, like huh, if I went for a pee and was only away for a few minutes why on earth would I want to send a text to my date? And what would the text say, ‘nearly drained the trouser snake so see you shortly’? Was I understanding this wrong? Is this how people converse and try to woo others now? He lacks depth and is one-note and she’s all bite and no softness, it’s hard to warm to either.

The script is peppered with numerous film references, so we know that Sean likes his films, yes but usually a musician likes to talk about their career, their passion, so you know, where’s the music references. I was beginning to think he was either a film student or a film director rather than of a musical bent. It’s not all bad though, Rosanna Arquette is always a pleasure to watch, and the film’s trippy visuals are well-conceived and a delight to absorb, otherwise I was unclear how the film’s synopsis tied into the movie I was watching.