Spinning Man

I enjoyed the movie. In my opinion the writing was really good, and they tried to make it suspenseful but it wasn't very, in my opinion.

Guy Pearce plays a college Philosophy professor who just so happens to own the same looking car as the last person seen before a young woman went missing. Or was it him? Pierce Brosnan is going to figure it out, as he's playing the homicide detective. Along the way, Guy's wife is trying to figure out if her husband could have really had anything to do with this.

I don't have really anything bad to say about it, but it wasn't the best movie that Pearce or Pierce have ever been in, though they do act well together. I'd love to see them do another film together.

This movie is a slow burner, it REALLY gave me sort of a "Memento" vibe while watching it. They probably could have made it better though, there was plenty of room for improvement. But like I said, I enjoyed it. Decent flick to pass a couple hours.

"Spinning Man" is a very intelligent film that draws interesting parallels between a philosophy teacher's search for truth and that of a detective. The performances, particularly by Pierce and Bronson, are excellent. The plot is satisfyingly complex with an ever-tightening noose of circumstantial evidence, but seems a bit contrived and ultimately disappointing with a bit of a deus ex machina ending and a bit of misdirection in the denouement. Production values are adequate, with several parallels involving rodent traps, dependencies and posters for missing pets, although some of the parallels seem a bit spot-on. The picture is gloomy with weather suggesting an impending storm, reflecting the mood of the characters.

The movie kept me in constant questioning about who the killer was. However, the end left me confused and felt rushed and blended in a way that couldn't be followed. It was an interesting concept, poorly executed. There were too many flashbacks and too much future and present footage that was blended in a way that was hard to be followed. There was a lot of questions unanswered.

This film isn't amazing, but it isn't terrible. It's just an average movie.

I loved to see Brosnan as an American homicide detective. The man has been becoming more and more of a genuine actor lately. Magnificently paired with Guy Pearce this time, providing the correct kind and dose of contrast. And maybe for the first time ever, I can state that Minnie Driver feels "right" in her role.

Though similar stories have been covered zillions of times, in the past decades mostly by TV shows like CSI, the focus is on something else here: The difference between reality and the perception of it. A mid-aged man teaching philosophy, one who raises genuine questions on his actual culpabilitiy, functions very well as the central character, more so than you might expect.

A couple of visual tricks helped the film grow on me as well. One was the shot in which we saw the pole to one side of which the poster for the (fake) bunny search was just stapled, whereas on the other side the suspect saw the poster for the missing girl. The other was how the dialogue between the husband and wife was shown, reflecting from two mirrors standing side by side, the couple talking to each other physically whereas the visual trick functioned to reveal they were rather speaking into oblivion in solitude, with their reflections looking the opposite ways. I wonder if this was a homage to a way older scene from the history of cinema, something by Tarkovski maybe, or if the filmmakers came up with the idea on their own.

There was almost nothing "wrong" with the movie. The scenes functioned, tension and mystery built up well enough till the final act. And then...

Well, the film ended in a way that you could expect. That's it.

As a viewer, I felt deprived of a potentially awesome version of that very same finale, which could have been created simply by re-editing certain scenes. Ending such a story with questions hanging in the air is not awkward at all, but there was either some laziness, or some confusion on what emotions to extract from the audiance.

With Pierce of previous "memento" problems in the cast, this could well have become as captivating as Seven. Maybe a false lead was needed to provide some distraction from the main issue.

Wasted opportunity but still worth a watch.

I will keep my summation brief as you will have either seen it already or read the synopsis. What lies beneath this entire film, is the question of memory. How accurate is it? How reliable is any single person's account, of anything! What is truth? It's reflected in the philosophical teachings and comes into play within the context of a mystery thriller. In addition, what is guilt really? If a large number of people say something is so, does that make it real? Does having a personal philosophy have to match up with one's own actions?

The film raises these and other fascinating questions. I would hope that one would walk away wanting to explore philosophy in more depth. However, for the average popcorn going movie goer wanting their 'thriller' spoon fed to them, they will of course be disappointed.

Those seeking a little more substance will find this satisfying, playing out, exactly as it should.