A fundamental idea behind currency (money) is it represents effort: buying a cup of coffee is not an exchange of dollars but rather the dollars are an indirect measure of how much you worked and the value of that work.
“In Time” carries that idea to an extreme: Everyone stops aging at 25 and you are given a year of money. However, when your balance goes to zero, you die. Buying a cup of coffee literally costs a minute of your life.
Source: youtube.com
