The Time Being

Released Jul 26, 2013

1h 28m

Mystery & Thriller

List

28%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

A mysterious millionaire (Frank Langella) hires a struggling artist (Wes Bentley) to carry out an odd series of film assignments.

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Audience Member

I had hopes for a deeper film but te characters were not believable in their lack of emotion. subdued morose and sad

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Beautifully shot pompous tedium. But you do get to spend time with Frank Langella, so there' s that.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

good suspenser another lost review flixter!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Daniel (Wes Bentley - American Beauty) is an artist whose career has never really taken off and whose marriage is beginning to suffer as a result of this constant failure. He has had numerous gallery showings to no avail and his friend Eric (Corey Stoll - Midnight in Paris) has even bent over backwards to keep his struggling friend's work -- that won't sell -- in his gallery in hopes that he'll one day catch a break. When he sells one piece to a reclusive millionaire (Frank Langella - Robot & Frank), Daniel hopes this will lead to some profitable commissions that'll turn his career and marriage around. Daniel instead finds himself being sent on odd photography assignments around the city taking pictures of little children on playgrounds. Daniel isn't sure what to make of his new "work" and is even more unsure of what to make of old man Warner (Langella). The film is pretentiously arty -- are there any other kids about "struggling" artists?! -- and neither the artist nor the old man is someone you want to root for. I found them both to be rather insufferable as they are both the type of person who want those around them -- including the audience I guess -- to be as miserable as they are. The Time Being wants to be serious and high-brow and it believes its lingering shots of paintbrushes being cleaned in water is somehow profound. None of this is profound -- it is glib and self-important, the worst kind of art imaginable.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I think critics got this wrong. This is a great film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great movie! Whether you are an artist, art lover or not; this film draws many emotional components of family, love and life into a visual and dramatic journey.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Nenad Cicin-Sain

Director

Wes Bentley

Daniel

Frank Langella

Warner Dax

Ahna O'Reilly

Olivia

Sarah Paulson

Sarah

Corey Stoll

Eric

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Randy Cordova

Arizona Republic

A brittle, pompous drama about artists and the price they pay for inspiration.

Rated: 1.5/5

Aug 1, 2013

Full Review

Odie Henderson

RogerEbert.com

Director Nemad Cicin-Sain and co-writer Richard N. Gladstein are both guilty of serving up a totally empty, tonally confused meditation on the creative process.

Rated: 2/4

Jul 26, 2013

Full Review

Lou Lumenick

New York Post

"The Time Being'' looks sharp, but it's about as dramatically satisfying as watching paint dry.

Rated: 1/4

Jul 26, 2013

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

With visual artistry at its finest, The Time Being is an emotionally heart-wrenching work that establishes Nenad Cicin-Sain as a visual storyteller.

Nov 27, 2019

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

While trying to examine the difficulty of reconciling an artist's identity with the banality of everyday responsibilities, The Time Being wastes its potential on trite passages of dialogue and melodramatic flourishes.

Aug 22, 2019

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

There reaches a point... at which the film settles into a deliberately-paced yet completely watchable groove, with the emphasis on the relationship between the two men ensuring that The Time Being ultimately succeeds as a low-key drama.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 6, 2016

Full Review

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Synopsis

A mysterious millionaire (Frank Langella) hires a struggling artist (Wes Bentley) to carry out an odd series of film assignments.

Director: Nenad Cicin-Sain
Producer: Jerome Gladstein, Anthony J. Burton
Screenwriter: Nenad Cicin-Sain, Richard N. Gladstein
Distributor: Tribeca Film
Production Co: FilmColony, Time Picture Company
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 26, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 7, 2014
Runtime: 1h 28m

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