Over the recent long months of lockdown, many may feel that they are stuck in their own personal Groundhog Day. With working from home and the few opportunities for travel or socialising, life, for some, has become a matter of dull routine.
It’s somewhat of a surprise, then, that the well-worn genre of the time loop movie, where protagonists are doomed to live one single day time after time, is striking a chord. Recent comedy Palm Springs has had plenty of attention from critics, perhaps because it resonates so strongly with our lockdown experience. On the face of it, this genre is a recipe for monotonous viewing, but it is to the credit of filmmakers that many have played out the concept in ingenious ways.
TV has also utilised the time loop concept, most recently in Netflix’s excellent Russian Doll (2019), where Harry Nilsson’s ‘Gotta Get Up’ is appropriately used to ear-worm effect.
Of course, the grandaddy of time loop pictures is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993), where Bill Murray’s selfish TV weatherman is condemned to relive the titular day in Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania), where Phil the woodchuck prognosticates each February 2nd on how long winter will continue.
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