5 More Minutes

Spanish time travel hasn't been so blackly twisted since Nacho Vigalondo's debut Timecrimes as it is by director Javier Ruiz Caldera in this San Sebastian Film Festival Official Competition entry. Ruiz Caldera and writer Berto Romero (who also stars) stick mercilessly to a set of easily learned rules that help to build tension and humour throughout.

Toni (Romero) and Barbara (Belén Cuesta) are trying to get away from it all for the weekend to patch up their less than rosy relationship. Things are decidedly chippy in the car, as they head into the countryside, with talk of counselling, what's going on with their son, who they've left with his gran, and the need to be honest with one another. A stop on the road for an extra spot of bickering sees them have a close shave with a speeding car, which turns out to be driven by Carlos (Javier Cámara), the agent tasked with showing them their home for the weekend.

Romero has proved his ability to capture relationship comedy with three seasons of comedy show Mira Que Lo Has Hecho (Look What You've Done) and the back and forth between Barbara and Toni is spiky but believable, as they go through the motions with Carlos, his attitude also becoming prickly when they ask about him nearly knocking them down. Then just as he hops in his car... all three of them find themselves standing where they were five minutes previously, confused and with a sense of deja vu. This tiniest of time loops will be mined for comedy and violence over the next hour or so as things increasingly do not go to plan.

With no wifi at the property, the trio's first impulse is to race in a car to the nearest place with a connection, learning on the way that the world is also stuck in this loop. Their haste, however, leads to the first in a series of unfortunate events, some of which will be more deliberate than others. Just as they are reeling from that, they find themselves right back in the yard of the property at the start of the loop. Fully realising what is happening, the three of them soon learn the additional rules are simple, the loop lasts five minutes and things or people which are broken or hurt in one loop may return to their original position but they do not get fixed or healed when it resets. They also learn the next neighbour along has a shotgun and, thanks to them, he has a very good reason to want to use it.

The five-minute nature of the loop is perfect for escalating humour. Too short to make any sort of conversation about why this is happening to the world essentially pointless, given the spiraling events, and just long enough to add extra machinations each time. Distrust mounts, as does the alcohol in Carlos's system, as he downs a glass of wine each time until the bottle is empty.

Fans of Vigalondo's twisty tales or Álex de la Iglesia's blackly comic violence will find much to enjoy as Ruiz Caldera doesn't hold back when it comes to the film's almost slapstick approach to brutality. The overarching joke, of course, is that it takes only the slightest nudge to make everyone descend into murderousness but it's the inventiveness of what happens in those five minutes that holds the draw.

The ending, which is rather more sober than many will be expecting, isn't as punchy as the comedy but given the short span of the loop, what goes before is an impressive exercise in not repeating itself.

Reviewed on: 19 Sep 2026