Timecode (2000) - Synopsis
Time Code is an audaciously innovative new film project from Mike Figgis that shatters all the rules. This is a radical break with traditional feature films which ushers in a new millennium of digital filmmaking - a motion picture shot entirely with hand-held digital cameras, in a single continuous take, with no editing.
On a quadruple-split screen, four separate stories unfold simultaneously in real time, building to a final, climactic moment in which they all unexpectedly come together. The plot -- a black comedy thriller set against Los Angeles lifestyles -- literally unfolded before the cameras as the actors each forged a trajectory for their characters based on the central elements of an affair, a murder and the chaos of a Hollywood production office.
At the heart of Time Code are four main characters. Stellan Skarsgard is a philandering motion picture executive; Saffron Burrows is his wife; Salma Hayek is an aspiring actress in the midst of an affair; and Jeanne Tripplehorn is an angry woman whose actions will change all of their fates. As their four stories unravel, each drawing in other characters, they begin to intertwine in sometimes shocking ways. Mystery, comedy, drama- all these and more result as the four cameras roll for 93 groundbreaking minutes.
The stellar ensemble cast also includes Xander Berkeley, Viveka Davis, Richard Edson, Glenne Headley, Holly Hunter, Danny Huston, Kyle MacLachlan, Alessandro Nivola, Mia Maestro, Leslie Mann, laurie Metcalf, Julian Sands, Steven Weber and more.