New to Netflix today is the short film, Flashback. Written and directed by Jed Shepherd and starring Jemma Moore, the film is a sci-fi tinged tale about a yoga teacher who finds her life flashing before her eyes during a home invasion.
In the film, Jess is at home in bed with her boyfriend Scott, when she hears a noise. After encouraging Scott to investigate, she hears the sound of a gunshot, followed by a thud on the ground.
Stepping out onto the landing to find out what has happened, Jess sees Scott on the floor, with a gun-wielding intruder stood before her. The intruder then pulls the trigger on his gun and shoots Jess.
As Jess recoils from the bullet and begins to die, her mind slips back in time, zipping through moments in her childhood. Her memories take her all the way back to 2000 before beginning to move forward at a quick pace.
Aware her life is flashing before her eyes, with death on the horizon, Jess slows her breathing and wills time to stop. To her surprise this works, and she briefly pauses at a key moment in her past.
With just one opportunity to act, Jess tries to use this time-stop to quickly tweak her past in order to alter her future. But can Jess save herself and Scott from dying before she is pulled back to the present?
Running around 14-minutes in length, Flashback is an intriguing little story with a good premise, some great visuals, and strong direction. The set-up draws you in very quickly, the time travel aspect is well executed, and for the most part it hooks you nicely and keeps you on board.
The idea of changing the future with a trip back to the past isn’t a new one, but Flashback manages to keep things feeling fairly fresh. This is largely to do with the speed in which the film moves, with the narrative leaving little space to worry about originality, and for a big chunk of the film things pan out rather well.
However, while a great deal of the film’s strength can be found in its lean storytelling techniques, this is also where a key weakness lies. The movie moves so quickly that it hurtles toward its ending a bit too soon, and the whole thing seems to come to an abrupt stop long before it should.
Up until the final minute of Flashback, I was completely transfixed. I was invested in everything on screen, and was itching to see how the set-up would be resolved.
But when the resolution arrives, it all feels anticlimactic. Not awful, and certainly not without merit, but nowhere near as interesting as it should be.
I’ve watched Flashback twice, and on both occasions my general reaction to the ending has been disappointment. Just when the film should be hitting its crowning moment, it runs out of steam, and I can’t help but feel the final act needs more time, as well as a better landing.
The film also incorporates a mysterious character called Dr. Bones, who pops up throughout the story as some kind of grim reaper-style figure. However, while his presence suggests something sinister, it’s not entirely clear if Dr. Bones is friend or foe, and this makes his involvement a little confusing.
Even a mid-credit reappearance doesn’t seem to clarify his position. I see potential with the character, but I don’t feel as if Dr. Bone’s is utilised all that well here.
But putting the above issues to one side, the rest of Flashback is great. There’s clearly some strong ideas in here and writer/director Jed Shepherd has the template for something very interesting.
Given a bit more money to go bigger, I could see Flashback being a longer, more expansive piece. A few adjustments here and there, as well as a lengthier runtime, could make a significant difference.
If ever Shepherd gets the opportunity to turn this short into a feature-length offering with a revised ending, I’d happily come back to watch it. Despite the short’s… erm… ‘shortcomings’, what appears on screen looks the business.
So, as far as the film goes, it’s a slightly mixed response from me, but one which sees more good than not-so-good. Sure, there are issues, but there is lots to like too and it had me for 90% of the time.
I’m hopeful that in the future Shepherd will have the opportunity to develop Flashback further because I think he deserves another stab at it. As for now, take it for what it is and focus on what works more than what doesn’t.
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