3.5/5
Review by John P. Harvey.
The parents of the first baby to be born in London in the last year of the 1980s will win a prize of 50,000 British pounds. In an unnamed London hospital maternity ward at the dawn of the new year, Connie Cooper (Jasmyn Banks) is about to give birth, but helps calm another imminent mother, Tara Hamilton (Rachelle Diedericks), whom she tells she will name her own baby — boy or girl — Quinn, as it’s a lucky name. But it is Tara who gives birth first (and wins the 50,000 pounds), and she names her son Quinn. When Connie sees television footage of this, she instead names her daughter Minnie.
As a young woman, Minnie (Sophie Cookson) has heard the story of her birth and her stolen name — and her stolen luck with it — from her mother, Connie (Monica Dolan), all her life. And throughout her life she has had bad luck on her birthday. This year, though, is sure to be different, and she decides to attend the party she had earlier sworn off.
And it is different; it’s worse. She arrives late, and her narcissistic boyfriend, Greg (Will Hislop), is as unattentive as ever. She has a terrible night. But at the end of it she does meet Greg’s antithesis. This is the man who — to Minnie’s understanding — stole her luck by stealing her name: Quinn (Lucien Laviscount). Quinn takes Minnie’s accusation to that effect very well, and from there the relationship between the two of them enjoys a comedic drama that depends on having neither know the other at all well.
Some of that drama strains our sympathies or credibility somewhat; in that sense, the tale follows a romance formula without fully respecting the need to have the viewer empathise with the characters by understanding their motivations — and to understand them through what the film shows us rather than what it tells us.
This Time Next Year is nonetheless a good deal of fun. The characters are generally likeable; the story maintains both comedy and pace well; it has a decent soundtrack and contains moments of sublime cinematography.
Screening at Palace cinemas.