Flashbacks of a Fool

I really loved this movie! It makes you to think and talk about it after you have seen it. Sometimes when you are so high in your life you're living,nothing is important more than yourself until something personally hits you This film tells you that you have to go down rock bottom to stop and realize your past and your mistakes you have done. And this one film tells you everything you need to know about mistakes when we are still innocent and young and in the same time even when you are young you still feel guilt of what happens around you. But it is never too late and i think everyone deserves a second chance. It took me 3 months when i decided to rent it and i said to give it a go and i really enjoyed watching it. Very Good Drama!!

This flick is starting to hit the US cable movie channels. I had never heard of it. I came away moved and impressed by this Daniel Craig project. "Shake your hair girl with your ponytail. Takes me right back..." OTHER: I found myself getting the female actors mixed up, but that's really my only problem with it. They look alike. The SA location fooled me completely and looked great. A refreshing change from the usual gritty rowhouse environment in which many British movies of this type are set. The film "Wish You Were Here" pushes similar buttons as this flick. Loved Ruth's 1970's wardrobe and the arcade that was apparently the center of life for these teens back in the day.

Loved the director's economy of actors. Most others would have had that arcade FILLED with extras cluttering up the scene. But in a memory, are there any extras?

Films of reflection are too few and often the result of climbing to a summit only to gaze back at the shadows never cast in the greedy race for the top ends i tragedy. FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL suggests, by its title, that the story may be different, that there may be some redemption at the core of an abusive life.

Writer/director Baillie Walsh sets his story in opening frames of intense sexual, drug accompanied debauchery. But as the credits fade, the lead character Joe Scott (Daniel Craig) faces a morning of hung over reality. A wealthy Hollywood star whose lifestyle has hastened his aging, Joe is 'managed' by the stern Ophelia (Eve) who is tiring of Joe's wasted lifestyle. Her warnings, as well as Joe's agent's confrontation that Joe is too old looking for a new screenplay, is compounded by a telephone call that Joe's boyhood friend Boots (Max Deacon) has suddenly died, leaving Joe's old first girlfriend Ruth (Claire Forlani) an early widow. Depressed and drunk Joe walks his beach and reflects on his youth. The 'flashback' tales us to Joe's teenage years (the young Joe is Harry Eden) with Boots as his closest friend and Ruth (Felicity Jones), the girl Joe craves. But hormones rule and Joe is an easy prey for his married next door neighbor: during one of their trysts a tragedy occurs that results in Joe's fleeing home for the 'successful' yet empty life he finds in Hollywood.

At the request of Joe's mother (Olivia Williams) he flies back to England where he is forced to confront the early damage he caused in the lives of his family and friends. Daniel Craig and Harry Eden are excellent in their mirrored roles of the young and the older Joe. In fact there is not a weak member of this fine British cast. Though the story takes place in England the film was shot in South Africa (cinematographer John Mathieson) and the rickety beach houses on the small bay where Boots and Joe spend their time is picturesque and adds the right sense of isolation to the story. At 114 minutes the film goes on a bit too long with areas for editing a bit too obvious. But the overall effect of FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL is a satisfying journey through a memory that holds a light to the incidents of youth that can alter too many lives if not mended. Grady Harp

There's a saying I heard a long time ago... "The person that's got everything has nothing" and this movie kind of explains one way of looking at it (in my opinion).

In a materialistic influenced world we live in it can be easy to fall into how believing happiness and wellbeing comes only from having all the things wealth can bring i.e. the clean cut minimalist house walking out onto the white sand overlooking a beautiful serene sea, a selection of gleaming new sports cars, the tailored clothes etc etc. But I guess for some people who have reached this place/goal in their life have focused on the goal so much that they've forgotten where they've come from and what they may have been running from.

Now what this gem of a movie does is carefully and meticulously unravel the story of a troubled man in this very situation, dealing with the daemons of his past, the spontaneous difficult decisions he had to make as a boy which has carved this stone cold embodiment of a man on the edge of existence.

Now I'm not going to break down and dissect this film and give a whole rundown on how and why I think this is a great movie but I will say this. The story of a nasty main character (amazing job from both Daniel Craig and Harry Eden) and showing the world that he lives in and lived in by slowly letting the viewer past his metaphorical protective wall while allowing the viewer to piece together how and why he is the way he is, is presented exquisitely.

I don't want to give anything away on the plot and story but I have to say there where two parts that absolutely blew me away and I'll just give you a vague hint. One involving a shot of artwork with intention of displaying a contrast of relation between the background and foreground giving an artistic viewpoint on the real subject matter (works on so many levels) and the other being a close up shot which encapsulated a lot of emotion and made my heart just drop.

all in all the whole production was done well, especially the editing (even though it's obviously apparent they had some great content to work with) and did, for me, what all great stories do, kept me entertained through demanding my full attention and rewarding that attention in the form of an emotional roller-coaster.

Last note: please try not to second guess while trying to predict what's coming next and how it ends. Just enjoy the story that is being told because it's been executed very well.

PS: I would have given this a 10 but wanted other readers to take this review seriously as I do love the art of storytelling, especially a good movie and it's unfortunate that there's too many marketing teams pushing up star ratings here on IMDb.

Thanks for reading my first review and I hope you enjoy "Flashbacks of a Fool" as much as I did.

Although Flashbacks of a Fool is Daniel Craig's pet project – he's the film's executive producer as well as its star – it actually contains surprisingly little of the blonde hunk (though for the ladies out there, you do, admittedly, get to see his bum).

Craig plays Joe Scott, a movie star who has plenty of money and sexual satisfaction in his life, one which - when he is not indulging in coke-addled rumpy pumpy at least - is mostly spent looking out to the sea from his minimalist cliff-top pad.

Yet he has no real friends and seemingly no real future – "there's no role for you ANYWHERE," his agent tells Joe, a moment after he has seen his client throw his prized mobile phone out of a restaurant window.

As Joe begins to wonder what has happened to his life, we are taken back to his adolescent days of first love on the quiet English seaside, to discover what this Brit has in fact been trying to hide from with a life of debauchery and excess in LA.

Even a fan of this film should be able see why some might find it slow and slightly dull, as it does rely on the viewer sharing in a sense of glory in the mystical power of great records, the tragic romance of nostalgia and regret, and the theme of washed-up stardom.

Perhaps that provides limited scope for the film to garner a wide audience, but for those who can find true enjoyment from subtle portrayals of youth and humanity as much as from the more obvious merits of rapid plot progression that will matter little. The direction is superb, the script never feels rushed, and the wistful tone of someone looking back to their yesterdays to get on with their today is rare in its realisation of artistic vision.

There's no big finale, but that's not to say that the conclusion is anything less than perfect in its mood and its timing. A literate film that is there to relish on a quiet afternoon, Flashbacks of a Fool feels more typical of a book by Ian McEwan (though thankfully it bears little in common to the cinematic version of Atonement) than a film starring the current Bond. It could also have you listening to Roxy Music for the rest of your weekend, even if you've never before had the urge to sing along to Bryan Ferry in the bath - a pleasing added bonus.

There is nothing foolish about this film – watch it accordingly.