TWICE UPON A YESTERDAY

Like last year's surprise hit “Sliding Doors,” Maria Ripoll's romantic comedy-drama contra-temps with a metaphysical twist seems simple enough, but proves to be an amorous puzzle as maddening as it is irresistible. For who among us has not begged for a second chance? To take back what we said, or to walk a different path than the one that led to heartbreak? That miraculous choice is given to Victor, a self-centered stage actor whose temporary infatuation with a co-star promted him to throw away his six-year relationship with psychotherapist Sylvia. Now Sylvia is marrying somebody else who is everything Victor is not, and the jobless thespian wanders around London's pubs and rainwashed streets, inconsolable. Then he meets two bizarre Spanish garbagemen with an ability to control time. With a move to magic realism, they use a poetic incantation to send Victor back to the crucial point at which he lost the woman more dear than anything in the world. Armed with full knowledge of the future and regret for things that have not yet happened, Victor astonishes Sylvia by turning himself into a new man – attentive, caring, non-smoking (when Sylvia's around, anyway). But destiny is not easily thwarted and before Victor's anxious eyes history seems to be repeating itself. Scottish actor Douglas Henshall (“Angels and Insects”) gives a bombastic, yet completely engaging, performance as the lovable, lovesick Victor and the cast is brimming with talented young actors. Watch for screenwriter Rafa Russo, a Spanish novelist/songwriter/musician, shoplifting in a bookstore. He claims his own Victor-like behavior inspired his wishful script. His convincing dialogue will raise your romantic spirit not once, but TWICE UPON A YESTERDAY.