Saw it last night. I went to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it. This is just my sort of film: sensitive, poignant, melancholy, heartbreakingly beautiful. Yes, there were some things I would have changed (more about Joe and Boots or a longer scene between Joe and Ruth in later life) but essentially this is a film about guilt and self-loathing which eventually needs to be confronted. Imagine the effect of what he and Evelyn were doing when her daughter died as he was growing up? Would that have messed him up about sex and forming close human relationships, i.e. when he does, someone dies? He should have been with Ruth but he was taken advantage of by Evelyn and wasn't old enough to make the right decision. As it happened, the innocence all came to an abrupt halt and he never got a chance. I thought Harry Eden did a fantastic job: a boy on the brink of becoming a man but just so, so innocent (albeit mixed with some flashes of the more selfish Joe to come). We didn't see what happened to Joe in between the time he ran away and the grown up Joe - we can only surmise. I loved the cinematography of the flashback, the soft summer light inside the house, the use of sea waves to link 70s England with modern L.A. The Roxy Music lip-sync was worth the price of the ticket alone. The ending was a bit abrupt but I think it worked. It was painful to watch Ruth cry finally.
Review of Flashbacks of a Fool
