Moving Pictures

Spaces Left by Missing Fathers

‘TIME’ IS A UNIQUE PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY IMPACTED BY INCARCERATION

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

Garrett Bradley’s Time is a unique documentary that transforms a collection of remarkable home movies into a feature film that captures an intimate portrait of a one-of-akind family alongside an inside glimpse at the inner-workings of America’s prison-industrial system. Time is also a horror film of a kind: It spotlights the inhuman conditions in Louisiana State Penitentiary, and it tells a ghost story about the empty spaces left by missing fathers.

Time began as “Alone” — a short film Bradley made as a New York Times Op-Doc. Bradley was moving on to a new project when her Alone subject, Sybil Fox Richardson gave the director a sackful of mini-DV videotapes. The tapes amounted to hundreds of hours of home footage Richardson had shot, documenting their family life for her husband, incarcerated in Louisiana State Prison. Richardson, her husband, Rob and their nephew committed an armed robbery of a credit union. Sybil Fox Richardson served three and a half years, taking a plea deal for her role as the driver in the crime. Rob was sentenced to 60 years at the notorious farm prison nicknamed “Angola” after the slave plantation that once occupied the property.

Richardson’s home movies are revealing in layers: They show a young wife and mother, newly-reunited with family, but also in danger of being overwhelmed with a young toddler and infant twins. We watch these kids and their mom grow and change over the course of 18 years. We see Richardson’s unceasing efforts to keep her family intact while she works to free Rob, and we see her youngest sons all grow into exceptional young men. We also see Richardson adjusting the camera, considering the lighting, and fixing her hair in the videos. We watch her develop into a media savvy activist and a car salesperson who knows how to leverage media and imagery to persuade. In one scene she walks through a car sales commercial with a videographer. She questions the lighting and the camera angles, and she wants to be able to see how her hair and makeup appear on-screen. She makes-up very original and very strong dialog on the spot, and she snaps effortlessly in and-out of an on-camera salesperson persona like a seasoned pro who spent years learning how to best put herself and her family in front of a camera.

Bradley shoots the rest of the Richardson’s story on a small Sony FS7 camera and the original footage is finished in black-and-white. The result is that the home movies and Bradley’s additions blend mostly seamlessly. But I’m not sure I agree with the choice, which feels mostly like a stylistic affectation here. That said I loved Bradley’s choice of incorporating poetic nature footage in the film – her clouds really do look spectacular in black-and-white. And the use of vintage Ethiopian piano music on the film’s soundtrack is a masterstroke, and one of the elements that make this documentary feel far more engaging and original that other documentary films about similar subjects.

Time can’t help but attract attention as a social message movie in our current political climate. While the movie might bring up questions about the intersection of Black Americans and the prison-industrial complex, there are many documentaries that are much better at that messaging. What makes Time unique is the Richardsons’ themselves, their personal story, and the artistry Sibyl Fox Richardson orchestrated and inspired to save them all.

Time is currently streaming on Amazon Prime

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and