Tribeca 2026 Review: Progress is a Delicate Dance in Allison Berg’s Heartening “Time Warp”

It could seem unnecessary that Allison Berg holds an interview as long as she does that’s interrupted by a passing train the background in “Time Warp,” but Rock Springs, Wyoming is the type of place where few actually stop and cargo transportation like this can carry on forever, though the director judiciously keeps it to under a minute. Bones and Megan, the two high school sophomores in front of the camera, are hardly fazed, sitting down after a day of browsing downtown businesses like the the Stellar Cellar with secondhand records and the local thrift store where clothes can still be had for 25 cents if it’s the right day of the week, and though the two will talk about how difficult it is to be accepted by their own blood relations as they’re openly queer, they roam around unbothered in the cozy community that sits in a state where the motto is “Live and Let Live” and there aren’t as many as might be expected to argue against it.

Which isn’t to say there isn’t there isn’t some rebellion afoot in “Time Warp,” though it’s entirely of the joyous variety when Berg tracks the production of a shadowcast staging of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in Rock Springs where Kenny Starling, a nonbinary refugee from South Carolina has parlayed a job working at the local urban renewal agency into running the 350-seat Broadway Theater where they start a theater company. The location isn’t incidental Starling notes, drawn to the 23,000-population city a few hours away from where Matthew Shepard was killed in Laramie in part by the chance to create a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ residents as much as the opportunity being able to take over a building that remains in good shape for peanuts though the town itself has seen better days. At least a few of those who join the production say their parents are unaware of their participation, let alone their sexual orientation and many just love “Rocky Horror,” but the production becomes a galvanizing event where not only the locals are emboldened to belt out how they truly feel and find that there are not only more of them out there than they imagined, but more out there for them in general.

“Time Warp” might’ve benefitted from a slightly slimmer runtime when there isn’t that much drama around the production – a city council meeting is convened around a complaint about the show being a bad influence on children, though the person that brings it to the dais is largely outnumbered – and although what Starling and crew are faced with overcoming is tremendous, it’s almost immediately established and there never appear to be any true threats to the outcome. Yet where Berg and editor Frank Keraudren, who previously teamed on “The Dog” about the real-life inspiration for “Dog Day Afternoon,” really work wonders is gently pulling back the curtain as far as what might be assumed of the rural community or of those in the “Rocky Horror” cast, changing subtitles from one scene to another to reveal certain connections or occupations that are unexpected from how they’re initially introduced and generally structuring the film to reveal the humanity of even those that come across at first as the most stereotypical versions of certain people imaginable, perhaps as much to themselves as an audience. (A late scene with a fervent Trump supporter who sets up to sell T-shirts by the side of the road is surprisingly asked why the suicide rate in Rock Springs is so high, softened to the point of recalling his late brother who died by his own hand as he wishes there were more mental health services around and compassionately comparing himself to the queer community in standing for what they believe in.)

Starling makes a point early on to say the people in Rock Springs are “very kind,” and with patience, Berg is able to really illustrate the complicated dynamic at play where it’s clear any aversion to the LGBTQIA+ community or the “Rocky Horror” production is driven by a fear of the unknown, leading to an atmosphere of silence when few feel comfortable being out that the show ultimately pierces with big renditions of “Sweet Transvestite.” The film also testifies to the unlikely ability of “Rocky Horror” to cut across various backgrounds and beliefs, drawing a cast that couldn’t have ever expected to be up on stage performing in lingerie, ranging from a former homicide detective to the daughter of a Christian choir teacher who was tired of the roles she was offered because she’s Black, but also an audience that loses any inhibitions in breaking out umbrellas and singing along, suggesting that the real drag is holding onto outdated labels from the past.