“This too shall pass.”
– Persian phrase of complex origin
Though it’s hard to say exactly when epidermolysis bullosa (EB) first appeared, the genetic disease was first noted by Austrian dermatologist Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra in 1870 and it would be another 43 years before the first cancer associated with EB would be recognized. In the time since, a cure has been sought but not yet found for the millions of individuals around the world who have the condition, dealing daily with blistering skin and open wounds caused by something as minor as heat exposure or scratching an itch, in some cases, while more extreme cases can develop blisters internally, impacting eating and digestion. After learning about how EB impacted a family friend, Jill Vedder and husband Eddie, lead singer of Seattle’s Pearl Jam, decided to take action and co-founded EB Research Partnership (EBRP) alongside other parents to increase awareness for EB, raise funds for research, and connect those living with EB with researchers and labs who may help them. On October 23rd and 24th of 2023, Eddie Vedder put on a two-night solo show at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall as a fundraiser with several special guests in the audience for night one. Recorded by filmmaker Matt Finlin (The Movie Man) and scored by Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew (The Movie Man), the resultant film, Matter of Time, first premiered at Tribeca 2025 and released on Netflix in February 2026, tells a three-prong story of the complexity of humanity, the bond of shared hope, and the power of shared vision.
Dr. Jean Tang in MATTER OF TIME. Photo courtesy of Door Knocker Media.
Matter of Time incorporates three distinct narratives that intersect throughout the runtime — the performance by Eddie, the guests and patients involved in EB research, and Doctor Jean Tang who largely represents the medical field. Instead of using the concert as the end point for the film, Finlin opts to start there, using the Eddie’s music as the thing that the audience will come in and out of, his songs sometimes serving as transition points to different stories from members of EBRP (such as Jill or Michael Hund who are organizing this event and an EB summit taking place at the same time), patients and their families, or Dr. Tang. Through the mixture of performance, captured footage, and talking head interviews, audiences are invited to learn about a disease among the least known and most deadly.
Deanna Molinaro in MATTER OF TIME. Photo courtesy of Door Knocker Media.
There’s a long-standing habit of storytellers to present those with any disability, disease, or condition as “heroic.” It’s the same way that those who die from cancer are described as “losing their battle,” which implies that they are warriors or creates the suggestion that they didn’t struggle or work enough to survive when they’re just people. This is the significance of Finlin’s three-prong approach because whenever it dabbles in that stereotype, of dipping too far into the trope by way of Eddie’s well-intentioned riffing between songs, Finlin can cut over to Dr. Tang or one of the families involved in the EBRP to lay down some reality. This creates a handshake between expectation and truth that allows one to be inspired and, perhaps, take action without forgetting that we’re observing people in their lives, not characters following a strict script. This is particularly significant because emotions are bound to run high throughout the whole of Matter of Time as viewers come to understand EB and what this can entail for each of the film’s participants and their families.
Another balance being struck through the documentary is the dissemination of information, also a by-product of the handshake. There’s the high-level, medical lingo shared by Dr. Tang and others, for which Finlin often incorporates animation sequences to make information more accessible (such as the basics of EB or understanding how CRISPR science works); there’s the corporate-speak that comes from Jill and Michael Hund as they discuss the work of EBRP and their goals; and there’s the regular language from the subjects and families. Each level is important to the mission of the documentary, to educate the audience on EB, and that means not just understanding it from the medical side or fund-raising side but from the personal side. This is the underlying element that makes Matter of Time quite powerful to observe as it takes high-level, often distancing concepts, and directly connects them to the life that you lead. Perhaps because this reviewer is a parent of two children with various diagnoses, but watching these parents struggle to keep it together as they apply bandages, assist with movement, take them to appointments, and more, speaks to the importance of finding the means to protect the most vulnerable among us. Even as Dr. Tang connects advancements in EB research to other rare diseases and how attention on one and bring change for all, any person imbued with empathy considers what they would be willing to do for their own children in such a case. Again, Finlin doesn’t amplify anything the participants or their families are doing as anything more than every-day in the sense that these are the regular lengths they go through in order to exist. Finlin doesn’t make them out to be heroes, to be inspirations; rather, he shows them as individuals with passions, drive, and varied interests — the very things that regular society would remove from them in order to keep them defined solely by a disease.
Jill Vedder in MATTER OF TIME. Photo courtesy of Door Knocker Media.
Interestingly, the inclusion of the solo Eddie concert is both a smart move and a distracting one to the overall intention of the film. It’s smart because, being of a certain age, one can likely pin-point where Pearl Jam came into your life and which song(s) most resonated (for this reviewer, 1991’s Ten and “Jeremy,” 1999’s “Last Kiss” from the compilation album No Boundaries: A Benefit for Kosovar Refugees, and 2008’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” included on the Reign Over Me soundtrack). It’s most likely that those willing to pay a premium for a ticket to see Eddie solo also are likely to be able to donate funds to a good cause, which the two-night event sought to do. Therefore, using his talents to bring in an audience is a no-brainer and Finlin’s choice to begin the film with the start of the show, as well as to incorporate different performances as breaks or transitions, keeps audiences who might struggle with the other two parts from straying too far from the couch. A downside is that none of the songs come with any kind of identification, so if not familiar with the songs, one finds themselves either at a loss, creating the potential for disengagement, or forced to depart their attention from the film to identify them. (Track listing reported here.) There’s a song that Eddie does sing, “Say Hi,” inspired by one of the subjects of the film, Eli, whose “Come Say Hi” movement is showcased briefly and whose song was part of two digital eps released in 2020 by Eddie. There may also be some who feel as though the concert portion is a misdirect for what the documentary actually is – not realizing that it’s actually about raising EB awareness and not something akin to 2025’s fabulous Bono: Stories of Surrender, which is a concert/storyteller’s experience. To those folks, the songs, like those who went to the event itself, are the treat you get in exchange for the information you gain. It’s a trade and Finlin’s team of cinematographers — himself (The Movie Man), Adam CK Vollick (Niel Young: Le Noise), and Blue Leach — don’t treat a single moment of the whole documentary as any less important in the staging or capturing of footage. This matters because the intimacy and visual access we’re offered with Eddie as he sits on stage is just like what we get with the participants and their families as we observe how they each individually prepare to travel to Seattle for the concert/summit, their bandage regiment, and general approach to engaging with a world that so often stares at them.
Center: Eddie Vedder in MATTER OF TIME. Photo courtesy of Door Knocker Media.
The title of the film appears to be taken from a line that Eddie says on stage, that finding a cure is a matter of time. It could also be taken from the song “Matter of Time” that was a part of the EP Eddie released alongside “Say Hi.” In my mind, it can be both, as well as a third thing — that all things are a matter of time. In the same way that “this too shall pass” can refer to the positive and negative things in our lives coming to us and leaving in equal measure, so can we view things coming in their appropriate time. Of course, while we do learn that there is a treatment available for a specific strain of EB, there is not yet a cure for all forms of EB; this is where the documentary comes in. The more people that are aware, the more who can contribute, and the sooner a cure can be found. Rousing with musical energy and hopeful positivity, Matter of Time doesn’t put blinders on to the truth of those dealing with EB, it just presents it in a way that rallies us to all come together to end it.
Available on Netflix February 9th, 2026.
For more information on the film, head to the official Matter of Time website.
For more information on epidermolysis bullosa, head to the official EB Research website.
To watch, head to the official Netflix Matter of Time filmpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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