Flashbacks of a Fool Movie Review

Daniel Craig is Joe Scott, a washed-up Hollywood actor with suicidal tendencies. After throwing himself at the mercy of the ocean, it triggers a flashback to his youth in 1970s England, when he launched into a forbidden affair

As the title suggests, Flashbacks of a Fool spends much of its time in the past. In fact, the hour-long middle section of the film is one long flashback, just after central character Joe Scott (Craig) has thrown himself into the ocean, presumably to kill himself.

Taking us back to one long hot summer of his youth, when Joe (now played by Eden) becomes embroiled with his married older neighbor Evelyn (May), it's a daring move - after writer-director Baillie Walsh has just spent 30 minutes setting up Craig's character - though not an entirely successful one.

The problem is that such a structure ensures Flashbacks of a Fool feels like two disparate films uncomfortably harnessed together. Set in California, the opening sequence portrays a man whose lifestyle is evidently taking its toll - not least in the opening credits where he enjoys a hedonistic drug-fuelled threesome with two women, one of whom says he has "no stamina" anymore. Known as 'Captain Wacky' for his frequent narcotics use, we swiftly learn that Joe's life is as shallow as his chic drug-dealer (Fox). "We don't need to go to the movies," she tells him. "We live in the movies." Only his sassy housekeeper (Eve) seems to keep him in line. The day starts to go wrong for Joe after his mother (Williams) calls to say his long-lost school-friend Boots has died suddenly.As shocked as Joe is by this, things get worse after a disastrous meeting with his agent (Strong), who bluntly tells him "no one's interested anymore". Heading to the beach, Joe downs some booze and walks into the water. The film re-emerges in 1970s England where Joe lives by the beach with his mother, sister (Clifford) and aunt (McCrory).

From this we lurch into a coming-of-age tale, as Joe hangs with his friends, including Boots (Deacon) - with whom, bizarrely, he's first seen masturbating round the back of a fairground ghost train. Everything shifts when the alluring Evelyn, a married mother of one, comes onto Joe, who succumbs to her charms even though he's supposed to be on a date with local girl Ruth (Jones) who Boots is also interested in. Another illicit union between Joe and Evelyn leads to the film's major turning point - an unconvincing event that's supposed to account for Joe's lack of emotional growth in his adult life.

While Walsh does a neat job in conveying the era when David Bowie and Roxy Music ruled the airwaves, never laying it on too thick, he does less of a job when it comes to convincing us this South Africa-shot film is actually in England. Far worse, he never really persuades us that Daniel Craig's Joe is the same character we see Harry Eden (best known for Gillies MacKinnon's Pure) playing.

The failure is not the fault of Craig or the excellent Eden; it's just that they feel like they auditioned for two entirely different movies. In the end, one has to ask whether it is Walsh - and not Joe -who is the fool.

Verdict: Much like its central character, Walsh's film is stylish but empty.

Rating: 2 & ½ Stars on 5