The Education of Fredrick Fitzell

Mom is in the hospital, potentially brain dead. Our hero and his lovely young wife visit mom... but our hero is haunted with a memory from his past that he can't shake, so he investigates. As he goes down the rabbit hole it seems there is something much deeper to find which has been suppressed all these years. And just as if think a new reveal is about to happen.... it's 50 more minutes of video filters, scaryish collages, triple image effects, flashing lights, adding up to a whole lot of utter nothingness that doesn't even stop its metamorphasing until even the very last minute of the film. And boy does that non-ending turn into a non-tearjerking stinker.

There was a really good film begging to be unearthed. The performances are very good for what amounts to a whole lot of nothing. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. Imagine a 2 hour movie that reflects a minute for minute wandering daydream of a drug addict where the sum of all its parts can just be your mind on drugs. No wonder this went straight to video. A waste of good efforts by the actors.

Seeing several comparisons of this film to classics as Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect, though in fairness. Flashback is not on those films' levels. Dealing with an interesting concept and a good leading actor with Dylan O'Brien, the problem lies more with the writing and overall script.

Too many flashback scenes, quick cuts, different timelines, fast forwarding and backtracking to keep up. The result is that it was a little too gimmicky and ending up being confusing. Perhaps if this movie was given more explanations and possibly added more runtime it would have been better.

There does lie an interesting concept but the end product is something which doesn't reach its full potential. Was expecting some sort of big reveal or twists in the end but nothing special occurred. Some intriguing moments but nothing special and not quite like Donnie Darko or the Butterflies Effect.

Flashback is so ambitious that the story becomes convoluted very quickly. I thought Tenet was a mess but this is easily way harder to follow. I do admire the attempt at doing something new, even if the director couldn't quite stick the landing.

All the actors give a great performance with Dylan O'Brien delivering a career best performance. When the directing and story collapse in on itself much like the concept of time and space that's used as a plot device here, we are still held together somewhat by the acting.

I love how the script flirts with very interesting concepts such as drug addiction, agency, accountability, reality vs maladaptive dreaming and love. The ending was surprisingly emotional and the bond between mother and son will tug at your heart strings.

All in all, don't expect a straightforward story, this is a different film. Instead go where the story takes you, suspend your belief and think about the themes the story explores and how they relate to your own life.

It's definitely a movie that will make u think, but there's so many things that you just get lost (while thinking) and try to figure out what's going on. There are some good elements in this movie: dark atmosphere, the story, Merc.

But somehow all of that makes your mind blow up. You don't understand what's reality and what's illusion. Yeah of course, movies that are unclear makes u think about it and u want to discuss it, in a good way, but after watching this, you be like "what was that"?

But still, it gets more and more interesting when you get to the middle. As some crazy thing are begin to happen. But again, when it gets closer to the end, that's where everything goes crazy, like I don't know what.

Im definitely not hating this movie but it could've been so much better. I would recommend it to people, but only to those who really watch and think while watching the movies.

Don't pay attention to the bad reviews. If you like mindf@#$ movies like Donnie Darko, Butterfly Affect, Equilibrium, Trainspotting etc.. This definitely fits the bill! Your not supposed to completely understand it and that's what makes it great.