5 More Minutes // Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2026 Review

Like any good genre nerd, I love a time-loop tale. I’m not talking about your Groundhog Day and Until Dawn (R.I.P. to the movie we could’ve had). I lean more towards movies like Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, Palm Springs, and Happy Death Day. Something about them speaks to me. More importantly, the main characters are grounded enough for me to invest in them. They’re also unafraid to get a little dangerous as they keep rebuilding their world before our eyes, over and over again. That is why I ran at Javier Ruiz Caldera’s 5 More Minutes (Cinco minutos más) at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. All I heard about the title was something about a couple stuck in a time loop. Luckily for me, it’s darker than it seems and the romance gets lost in the blood and guilt early on.

Back to the Future

Antonio (Berto Romero) and Bárbara (Belén Cuesta) are a married couple experiencing a bit of turbulence in their relationship. They decide to spend a weekend in the countryside to try to work through their problems. Unfortunately, they pick up the keys right when the world is thrown into a 5-minute time loop. Stuck alongside their rental agent, Carlos (Javier Cámara), the duo must figure out how to break the cycle and get back to their young son and a less repetitive life.

5 More Minutes seems too delightful at first. You spend the first few trips around the clock wondering if the time loop is all this movie has brought to the genre potluck. It would be fine if that’s all it was. The filmmaker’s intro video (he was one of many directors who couldn’t attend the fest) was charming and we love seeing nice people make nice movies. However, things take a huge turn as the rules of the world begin to reveal how they impact living things too. If a plate was broken in a previous loop and can never be fully reassembled, then what other damage can be done? How does this butterfly effect impact vehicles, drug usage, and accidental violence? You have to watch the movie to find out, but it’s all fun and games until a few moments of panic end in unforgivable actions.

Every New Beginning…

Caldera is a fun director who is armed with a cast who is down to clown. This troupe leads you into a seemingly charming affair before snatching the rug from under you. This feeling is why we go to the movies and why people who spoil movies are a pet peeve. Even in its darkest moments, there’s a bleak sense of humor that causes inappropriate laughs. I dig that because real life doesn’t section off tonal shifts, and neither should art. If you can go in knowing nothing about this movie, it’s a gift. That’s because 5 More Minutes is a film that knows the most interesting characters are actual humans. Humans are messy, never quite our best (no matter how hard we try), and make choices under stress that we thought we were above. We also instinctively protect the ones we love at all costs.

This is definitely a movie you can enjoy with a large glass of wine and some friends. Or while trying to drown out the noise of a world that is most definitely on its last legs. 5 More Minutes can be all fun and games if you don’t want to dig under the surface. It’s still a good time when you take that extra step, but it might also force you to think about how even our smallest actions have consequences. Do you know how the ripple effect of our decisions ever truly ends?