Documentary Review: 'Time Passages'

Time Passages

Directed by Kyle Henry

Written by Kyle Henry

Starring Kyle Henry

Release Date January 31st, 2025

Published January 28th, 2025

Time Passages is a haunting, beautiful, and deeply emotional documentary. Written, directed, and crafted by Kyle Henry, the documentary takes us through a monologue by Henry as he comes to terms with the slow motion passing of his mother, Elaine. After years of being Kyle’s closest friend and champion, Elaine developed dementia and slowly faded away. And to make matters even more tragic, the progression of Elaine’s condition coincided with a pandemic that separated Kyle from his mom by several states.

Through the use of home videos, photos, and conversations with his siblings, Kyle attempts to rebuild his mother’s memory. Time Passages thus begins as a vain attempt to jog his mother’s failing memory and develops into a tribute to his mother’s life, before finally becoming an ongoing grief therapy session as Kyle begins to interview his mother in an unexpected, almost surreal fashion that is surprisingly effective, emotional and deeply cathartic.

While the documentary is hyper-specific to Kyle’s story, it does have a strong relatable quality. Dementia, alzheimers, and the overall declines that come with aging are a universal topic. It’s not hard at all to see a bit of Kyle and Elaine’s story in your own Grief and loss are universal and that lays the groundwork for Kyle to draw us into his story and the specificity of that story are the building blocks of Time Passages.

Among the specifics of Time Passages, Kyle takes us through his mother’s life through home video footage and interviews that he conducted with her and his father for a different documentary project about his family history. Kyle’s father passed away a few years before his mother did and the documentary portrays the two as friendly and warm towards each other while also revealing the grave distance that arose between them during their marriage.

Kyle confronts the fact that when he was a teenager and his parents’ marriage was falling apart, and his much older siblings had moved out and moved away, he became his mother’s closest confidante. It was a role he wasn’t emotionally prepared to play. Elaine would confide things in Kyle about his father and their relationship that Kyle was not equipped for. It was a painful time but also a burden he carried for her out of his devotion to his mom. Listening to Henry you can sense how overwhelming it was at the time but also how he’s worked hard to come to terms with it.

That first notion that your parents are actually just human beings is an odd time in your life. For the early, formative years, your parents or the adults who raise you, are like gods. They control your every move. They provide your warmth, shelter, clothing and food. They appear omnipotent with an unquestionable authority that is backed up in culture and society viewed through television and other forms of media. It’s their job to keep you alive and safe and when you realize that they don’t always have the power to do those things and are, in fact, no more human than you are, it can be a jarring experience. Kyle’s anecdote is a wonderful example of that realization, one specific to his life but also incredibly relatable to most people.

Time Passages made me long for my own family story. The documentary made me wish that I’d documented more of my life. I wish I’d videotaped my mother talking about her unique life before she so quickly was taken away. I always shunned photos and videos as a younger man. It was mostly out of an unspoken self-loathing, I hated seeing myself because I didn’t like who I was. Now, I realize how silly that was. Self-loathing is a waste of time. It's selfish and harmful and it prevents you from living your life. If I'd been less involved in hating myself, I could have documented the many good things about my life that I missed out on. Time Passages inspired me to, at the very least, start thinking about documenting the people I love now, so no one can ever forget how much I loved them.

Time Passages opens in limited theatrical release on January 31st, 2025. Keep an eye out for it. It’s a wonderfully moving documentary and director Kyle Henry’s unique approach via monologue, home video, and a few show tunes thrown in, make it memorable. For anyone who has ever lost a parent, you will see a little of yourself in Kyle and Time Passages.

Find my archive of more than 24 years and more than 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. Also join me on my new favorite social media site, BlueSky. Listen to me talk about movies on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. If you have enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my writing on Vocal. If you’d like to support my writing, you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one time tip. Thanks!