The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

Directed by Ian Samuels. Starring Kyle Allen, Kathryn Newton, Jermaine Harris, Josh Hamilton, Cleo Fraser, Jorja Fox, Anna Mikami. [PG-13]

The self-aware Groundhog Day imitators are starting to “Groundhog Day” themselves—every new year or so, it’s time for us to relive the premise once again. And yet, despite that sense of déjà vu, the point where this new story tries to become deeper and more original is also where the whole thing starts to unravel. Upbeat teenager Allen has been stuck in a time loop for years, replaying the same day without any idea why or how to escape, but on one of those thousands of repeated days, he discovers that another teenager (Newton) is experiencing the same phenomenon, and resolves to get closer to her. A relationship gradually blooms, but Newton is withholding some key information from Allen (and the audience) in the form of secret texts from a med student named Jared, so it’s far too easy to anticipate that its eventual revelation will turn everything on its head, which makes for a frustrating brand of foreshadowing, and also (once clarified) spoils the spontaneity of free will by suggesting some manner of fate is involved in these two ever breaking the cycle of “infinite possibilities.” The movie is not without charms, however, featuring spotless protagonists who share an amicable connection, so as much as it falls short of doing something memorable with the tried-but-true format, it’s a pleasant sort of write-off, no matter how precious it sometimes becomes—the cloying “cuteness” of an early tracking shot through town nearly negates the sequence’s adroit camerawork. Written by Lev Grossman, adapting his own short story (he also has a minor onscreen role).

61/100