Georg Csarmann

Brooke Palmieri and Zac Weathers’ auspiciously titled Time Crisis: The Story of Arcade Legend Eddie Esguerra has all the hallmarks of a skillful short profile doc primed to perform well online: most notably a likable main character with a distinctive hobby, and a peculiar subject that still resonates with broader audiences. At first, the documentary starts like the wave of similar shorts that peaked on Vimeo in the 2010s – straightforward portraits of quirky personalities, backed by first-person voiceover, glossy cinematography, and sharp editing, all neatly clocking in under 10-minutes. But that’s only half the story here. 

In Time Crisis, we meet the titular Eddie Esguerra, who has become one of the best players of the obscure arcade game Time Crisis II – perhaps even the best in the world, though his humility keeps him from fully claiming it. The juxtaposition of his nice “aw, shucks” presence during interviews and his total badassery while playing the game is one of the appeals of his personality. Eddie has perfected his specific set of skills to a degree where he can play the game mostly from memory, attending to two arcade cabinets simultaneously on his own.

“We noticed Eddie playing Time Crisis II alone in two-player mode at a Los Angeles arcade, wearing custom holsters for the plastic guns – the directors discussing the origins of their short.

One of the most inspiring aspects of Time Crisis is to observe Eddie enter a state of flow while playing. Scientific evidence and spiritual practitioners have determined that “flow“ is one of the pillars of achieving a happy life: the ability to lose oneself in an activity so engrossing that time itself seems to disappear. In that light, the name “Time Crisis“ adds an ironic layer to the exploration of this concept within the documentary. 

We see that flow is precisely what Eddie experiences while playing Time Crisis II, and the filmmakers use cinematic techniques to heighten the divide between everyday reality and Eddie’s mindset while playing the game. The gameplay sequences are staged with pumping music and quick edits, as if Eddie was the hero of an action film – an experience that may well reflect how it feels in his own mind – only for a cut to the external perspective to reveal how it actually looks to an outsider. But that doesn’t matter to Eddie, who is deeply engaged in his own world, in the best possible sense. I hope that every one of us has at least one pursuit that allows them to forget time and self, and become absorbed in something joyful and meaningful to us. 

Flow state can be achieved alone or in the company of others, and there is something both beautiful and tragic about mastering a two-player game as a single person. At some point during the film, Eddie gets asked if he feels lonely, and he admits that his wish for connection is a struggle that he faces. One could even read the documentary through the lens of today’s loneliness crisis among young men. But as I hinted at in the opening paragraph, that, too, is only half the story.

The documentary highlights how social media has made Eddie somewhat of a celebrity and helped him find a community.

In the end, Time Crisis: The Story of Arcade Legend Eddie Esguerra is a film about connection, showing how authenticity, sincerity and being yourself are the new cool. The heartwarming twist reveals itself in the final part of the film: while Eddie’s dedication to his unique solitary passion is admirable, it is even more touching to see the admiring on-lookers watching him play. As the doc’s title suggests, social media clips of his arcade mastery seem to have made Eddy a legend in these circles, and his fans and other interested spectators have turned out to become his community.

The directors underscore this sentiment themselves: “Eddie’s dedication to an old arcade game becomes a window into how people build identity and community around highly specific interests. The film speaks to the tenderness and vulnerability behind seemingly eccentric hobbies. By focusing on one man’s pursuit of belonging, the film reflects a broader, timely conversation about how we find meaning in modern life.“