Comfort Films 116: Frequency (2000)

Have you ever wanted to go back in time to right a wrong? Whether it's correcting an injustice, avoiding a mistake, or preventing an accident, all of us would love to get a second chance to make things right. In Frequency, John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) gets to live that fantasy, when a freak solar storm causes a disturbance in earth's magnetic field that allows him to communicate with his father Frank (Dennis Quaid) thirty years in the past. Messing with time does have its consequences though, and the ripple effect of their initial change causes many other problems that Frank and John have to race to correct before their window of communication closes forever. In this episode (part of our dads defying space-time month), we talk about Toby Emmerich's screenplay, which flawlessly combines multiple genres; Gregory Hoblit's directorial approach, which grounds sci-fi/fantasy elements with real science; the end credits song by Garth Brooks that ties it all together; and our personal experiences with the film, including Georgia's essay in World Film Locations: Toronto. Come surf the radio waves with us!