Shimmer Lake (2017)

Shimmer Lake: Directed by Oren Uziel. With Benjamin Walker, Rainn Wilson, Stephanie Sigman, John Michael Higgins. An inventive crime thriller told backwards — reversing day by day through a week — following a local sheriff’s quest to unlock the mystery of three small town criminals and a bank heist gone wrong.

“There are two reasons you might make a film with a non-linear time line. The first is that you have a twist in your film, however the twist doesnu0026#39;t come at the end of your story so you need to make it happen at the end of your story (much like u0026#39;Mementou0026#39; did). The second, and inferior, reason is that your film simply isnu0026#39;t unique enough on its own. u0026#39;Shimmer Lakeu0026#39; is a combination of both of these reasons I suspect. Thereu0026#39;s a twist of sorts which would have come at the beginning of the film and now comes at the end. But what they wonu0026#39;t tell you is that by doing this it is also hiding the fact that this is a very run-of-the-mill story line told a thousand times over. Iu0026#39;m sorry, but it really is. There is nothing fresh here in that regard. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities in this script as well. It should have been more fun. There should have been more reveals (or at least more important ones). As each day goes by backwards, it feels more like things are simply being confirmed for us, rather than taking us by surprise. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s also a quite bizarre tone to the film. There are a few actors in the cast known primarily for their comedic talents. When theyu0026#39;re on screen the whole film feels more like a comedy than anything else. Then when theyu0026#39;re not on screen the film decides to take itself very seriously. In that respect the film is an absolute mess that looks like it has been dissected a hundred times over in the editing room. There was an idea here that could have been good, but that was as far as things got. Sadly this is a misfire.”