Rob Munday
Based on a discussion her two sons (who also star in this film) had about her previous short Restart, Olga Osorio’s Einstein-Rosen is a nostalgic tale of time-travel and sibling rivalry. Told over a 35-year gap and exploring Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen’s theories regarding bridges through space-time (aka wormholes) this 9-minute sci-fi comedy blends some complex quantum physics with good old family banter.
Fans of time-travel narratives, like myself, will know that usually when it comes to these tales, they’re pretty dark affairs. From Chris Marker’s classic short La Jetée to Rian Johnson’s Looper and recent Netflix series Dark these journey’s through time tackle subjects ranging from world war, assassinations and child-abduction – not exactly what you’d label family fun!
Osorio’s film is a different kind of time-travel story though, this is more in the tonal territory of Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future or Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day. It’s a short with a light touch and a story where the ability to journey through time isn’t used for evil or wrong-doing, in fact the inclusion of the wormhole serves really as an ‘I told you so’ moment between the brothers and not much more.
Saying that, this light-hearted approach doesn’t mean those more serious time-travel fans won’t find something to take from Einstein-Rosen, in fact the title of the film should suggest that Osorio and her team took this aspect of their plot really quite seriously.
In fact, even if time-travel isn’t your thing, there’s plenty here to enjoy. With Einstein-Rosen Osorio has created a fun short that shows you don’t need to go CGI crazy to create a sci-fi story you can lose yourself in. There are no robots rising-up to destroy us all, no epic battles across space, just two boys, one wormhole and a tortoise called Pepe.
Initially conceived as a fun family project, Einstein-Rosen quickly developed into a larger project after producer Juan Galiñanes read the script and encouraged Osorio to produce a more professional piece. Shot over 2 days, with a crew of 20, with this short now released online, Olga has now moved on to the post-production of her latest short Mouras.