Parents' Guide to Our Times

The majority of this quirky time-travel drama doesn't live up to its premise. The story starts out strong in Our Times, with Nora and Hector eager to finish their machine. But when they encounter problems in 2025 with Hector's inability to move beyond how women used to be treated and viewed, the film struggles to confidently find Nora moving on, taking great pains to show her pain over Hector's antiquated views on gender, sex, and sexuality. And yet, of course, Nora still loves him (despite his incredibly sexist views about women), so the film has to figure out a way to still be critical of Hector's behavior, but at the same time try to defend why Nora would "wait 30 years" for him, after he's chosen to go back to 1966, where he can continue being a misogynist, privileged man.

Further, the quirky and playful tone of this drama is odd, as there's not much comedy or humor. This ends up feeling at cross-purposes with the primary source of conflict in the film, which, again, is Hector's immediate disapproval of the way women are now treated in Mexican society. Rather than begin to try to understand this progress, Hector rejects it, pouts, and complains. So, what is the general message here? Sexism and misogyny are not cool, but sometimes "true love" can overcome it? That doesn't seem right. Or maybe the message is that if you don't get with the times, the times will move on without you? But then why does Nora still love and wait for Hector? Or maybe the message is simply, "women can be amazing physicists," which is great, of course, but feels a bit dated, as most of the progressive world has long moved beyond having to defend or justify that obvious truth.