The Color of Time

2012 American film

Edna Luise Biesold
Sarah-Violet Bliss
Gabrielle Demeestere
Alexis Gambis
Shruti Ganguly
Brooke Goldfinch
Shripriya Mahesh
Pamela Romanowsky
Bruce Thierry Cheung
Tine Thomasen
Virginia Urreiztieta
Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo

Written by

Edna Luise Biesold
Sarah-Violet Bliss
Gabrielle Demeestere
Alexis Gambis
Shruti Ganguly
Brooke Goldfinch
Shripriya Mahesh
Pamela Romanowsky
Bruce Thierry Cheung
Tine Thomasen
Virginia Urreiztieta
Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo

Produced by

Edward Bass
Shruti Ganguly
Vince Jolivette
Victorino Noval
James Franco
Miles Levy

Starring

James Franco
Mila Kunis
Jessica Chastain
Zach Braff
Henry Hopper

CinematographyPedro Gómez Millán
Bruce Thierry CheungEdited byJennifer RuffMusic byGarth Neustadter
Daniel Wohl

Production
company

Rabbit Bandini Productions

Distributed byStarz Digital Media

Release dates

November 16, 2012 (2012-11-16) (Rome Film Festival)
December 12, 2014 (2014-12-12) (US)

Running time

72 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Color of Time (originally titled Tar)^[1] is a 2012 American independent biographical drama film written and directed by twelve New York University film students whose teacher was James Franco.^[2] The film stars James Franco (who also produced), Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff, and Henry Hopper.

It premiered on November 16, 2012 at the Rome Film Festival. The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2014, under the title Forever Love.^[3] It was theatrically released in the United States on December 12, 2014.^[4]

Plot

The different parts of Pulitzer Prize winner C.K. Williams' life told through his poems. Flashbacks of his childhood, his teens, college years, to when he meets and marries his wife, Catherine (Kunis) and the birth of his children and parenthood. The film is narrated by different versions of Williams (Franco, Hopper, March, Unger), depicting the different aspects of Williams through the years.^[2]

Cast

James Franco as C.K. Williams – age 40^[5]
Mila Kunis as Catherine
Jessica Chastain as Mrs. Williams
Zach Braff as Albert
Henry Hopper as C.K. Williams at a young age
Bruce Campbell as Goody
Vince Jolivette as Mr. Williams
Jordan March as C.K. Williams in youth
Zachary Unger as C.K. Williams – age 7
Danika Yarosh as Irene
Mia Serafino as Sarah
Giavani Cairo as Dan
Kathi J. Moore as Phyllis
Ziam Penn as Ron
Joshua Saba as John

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 5% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 3.70/10.^[6] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[7]

Accolades

2012 Rome Film Festival:
- CinemaXXI Award (nomination) – Edna Luise Biesold, Sarah-Violet Bliss, Gabrielle Demeestere, Alexis Gambis, Shruti Ganguly, Brooke Goldfinch, Shripriya Mahesh, Pamela Romanowsky, Bruce Thierry Cheung, Tine Thomasen, Virginia Urreiztieta and Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo^[8]

Cubovision Prize (win) – James Franco^[8]

References

^ Kiang, Jessica (December 10, 2014). "Review: 'The Color Of Time' Starring James Franco & Mila Kunis Is An Experiment That Falls Short". Indiewire. Archived from the original on February 27, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024. This is a reprint of our review from the 2012 Rome Film Festival where "The Color Of Time" screened under its original title "Tar".
^ ^a ^b Young, Deborah (16 November 2012). "Tar: Rome Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
^ Robertson, James (June 15, 2014). "What's Ashton going to say? Watch moment Mila Kunis intimately kisses James Franco". Daily Mirror.
^ "Poetry in Motion: James Franco and 12 Students Create The Color of Time". MovieMaker. December 12, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
^ van Hoeij, Boyd (25 November 2012). "Tar | Variety". Variety. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
^ "The Color of Time (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
^ "The Color of Time". Metacritic. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Lyman, Eric J. (October 23, 2012). "James Franco to Receive Special Cubovision Prize at Rome's CinemaXXI Sidebar". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 18, 2021.