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Film / Yesterday Was a Lie

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Yesterday Was a Lie is a 2009 science-fictional Film Noir homage by director/writer James Kerwin, starring Kipleigh Brown as Hoyle, and featuring former Star Trek actress Chase Masterson as a mysterious and significant — but nameless — lounge singer who becomes Hoyle's ally.

Hoyle is a hard-drinking private detective(?) searching for a missing scientist and a missing Nazi notebook, and instead uncovering mysteries about the nature of reality and time. Quantum mechanics, Jungian philosophy and fanservice all feature heavily. Peter Mayhew (aka Chewbacca from Star Wars) appears as a silent character called "Dead Man".

The movie spawned a short-lived web series in 2011.


The film contains examples of the following:

  • Badass Long Coat: Brown (Hoyle) wears one as part of her Hardboiled Detective gear.
  • High-Class Gloves: Singer's dress in the jazz club when she sings "Yesterday Was a Lie."
  • Lingerie Scene: Hoyle's shirt is removed in order to dress a gunshot wound, leaving her wearing just a bra in the rain.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Hoyle's cat is named "Schrödinger" after one of the founders of quantum mechanics, who described a famous thought experiment called "Schrödinger's Cat".
    • Hoyle may be a veiled reference to astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle; in one scene, a character reads "October the First Is Too Late," Fred Hoyle's book which outlines his concept of non-linear time and a reality "clerk," also referenced in the film.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Hoyle and Singer in the art museum have dresses whose necklines plunge down to their navels.
  • No Name Given: Save for Hoyle and Dudas, none of the characters in the film are ever named. This is especially noticeable with Singer, who is a very important character.
  • Show Some Leg: Hoyle persuades a male physics student to spill secrets to her by sitting in front of him in a miniskirt and crossing her legs.

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