Frequency (2000)

John, now a cop, is introduced as a forlorn character who at 36 still mourns for the death of a loved one (his dad)... the year is 1999. John plays around with an old ham radio on a night with aurora borealis (aka the Northern Lights) dominating the sky. He happens to have reached somebody he later finds out to be his dad who died 30 years ago.

Frank is a firefighter, married and has a little boy named John... the year is 1969. Frank Sullivan finds himself talking (on a ham radio) to a person who identifies himself as John Sullivan, a cop in his 30s, and happens to portend who wins the 1969 baseball championships which frank can't wait to see the following day.

At first the two are concerned about the peculiarity of the circumstance, but it isn't long before the two realize that each is telling the whole truth about each other's identity. And that, for whatever unexplicable phenomenon, their voices are transmitted 30 years back in time and 30 years ahead of time, real time. John, knowing how his dad died 30 years back has to warn his dad (frank) of his scheduled death as hammered into John's memory. Indeed frank successfully evades his "scheduled" death (that's the day after) and manages to stay alive. But they soon realize that as a result of the alteration done in history, a greater danger is soon to be realized (Frank's time) and this time it put frank's wife (John's mother) to risk as well...

The movie which stars Dennis Quaid (Frank) and Jim Caviezel (John) poses an interestingly quaint premise but fails to maintain such a momentum as succeeding events tend to be manipulated to have a fairy-tale ending. Nevertheless, the movie presents one perspective of a father-and-son relationship deepened and nurtured (by the writer) which turns out to be a real emotional accomplishment.

© 2005 Jonathan Susvilla