204. Flashback; movie review

 

FLASHBACK

Cert 15

97 mins

BBFC advice: Contains drug misuse, strong language, nudity

More and more often new films fall so far outside of my experience and comfort zone that I feel almost impossible to rate them.

Flashback is an example - I can see how some young people might describe it as cool but it was too immersed in drug culture for me.

Christopher MacBride's film stars Dylan O'Brien as Fred - a man who is beginning to have adult responsibilities but is still disturbed by images of the past.

Fred has a great corporate job and a long-time girlfriend (Hannah Gross) but haunting memories are rekindled when his mother contracts dementia.

This alongside a chance encounter with a friend from his hell-raising teenage years send him on a wild road.

In particular, they spark fears for the life of a missing Bohemian girl (Maika Monroe) with whom he was infatuated,

Thus, he ends up trying to figure out what happened to her and what part of an experimental drug called Mercury might have played in her disappearance.

On the face of it, this is an intriguing premise but the flashbacks happen with such progressive speed and rapidity, they become mind-bendingly merged with the present.

In other words, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand what is imagined and what is reality both for Fred and the audience.

I was left questioning whether present-day Fred rather than teenage Fred is on drugs. Certainly the longer it continues, the sweatier he becomes.

Or perhaps the film is trying to say that the drug is having a residual effect many years later?

Anyway, the merging of past and present combine with the hallucinogenic effects of drugs makes the film blur so much I could not fathom what was going on.

As said, I might just have been too old but I didn't get it.

Reasons to watch: Some would say its a cool thriller

Reasons to avoid: Too complex for its own good

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? The most powerful psychedelic drug in the world is Dimethyltryptamine or DMT which is also known as the Spirit Molecule, Elf Spice, Dimitri, Fantasia, Businessman’s Trip, Businessman’s Special and 45-minute Psychosis. A crystalline powder from plants found in Mexico, South America and Asia, it is most commonly inhaled, causing reactions lasting from 5 to 45 minutes. But mixed in brews such as the South American drink ayahuasca, reactions can last three to four hours

The final word. Dylan O'Brien: “I felt like I was in this transitional phase of my life that was, you know, sort of close to a quarter-life crisis type thing,” he says. “For whatever reason, it was like me and this script were meant to be. I remember reading it and thinking: ‘I am this guy right now.'” NME

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