PALM SPRINGS - AMAZON PRIME

* MILD SPOILERS*

PALM SPRINGS from Hulu, on Amazon Prime.

Well, it’s my new favourite film.

PALM SPRINGS knows we are familiar with trapped-in-a-time-loop stories: we had GROUNDHOG DAY in 1993, the grandfather of the bunch; before the Harold Ramis masterpiece, though, there was THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME in 1983, and then, in the last few years, among others, Tom Cruise’s EDGE OF TOMORROW, the glorious horror, HAPPY DEATH DAY, and, on tv, Natasha Lyonne’s RUSSIAN DOLL.

One of PALM SPRINGS’ strengths is that, because the narrative device is becoming familiar, it doesn’t waste any time explaining itself. It piles through the ideas thrown up by its premise - in service of its theme - so that, by the film’s end, you feel exhilarated and full, but are ready to watch the film again for the sheer enjoyment of... watching it again, which is kind of fitting.

Writer Andy Siara and Director Max Barbakow have fashioned a gem. The film stars Adam Samberg, Cristin Milioti and JK Simmons as three characters trapped in a loop that winds around a wedding day event held in Palm Springs.

Samberg offers his usual persona, funny and resigned, stuck in the loop for so long he’s afraid to leave; Milioti is a revelation, she’s dynamic, sparky, and frequently hilarious, her character having the brains to question what is happening and then attempt an escape by tackling the science of it; while Simmons does so much in his relatively few scenes, providing a view of the loop that... achieves the state of grace Bill Murray’s Phil attained eventually in GROUNDHOG DAY.

PALM SPRINGS is a metaphysical enquiry into love, fate, and the nature of happiness, disguised as a light comedy! It really is.

A movie embracing the Nietzschean theme of eternal recurrence in order to explore what it means to be alive and to love somebody. And why that person in particular.

PALM SPRINGS may even be perfect.

Well, it’s my new favourite film.