Flashbacks of a Fool

The story starts as the mess is cleared from the luxury beach mansion of Hollywood actor Joe Scott, in whom we recognise the present James Bond actor Daniel Craig. But this is a different kettle of fish. Scott is on the bottle, squabbles with his housemate about a mutt she’s picked up and that he regards as too much of a pansy and during lunch he’s dumped by his arrogant agent.
Then he walks into the sea and the story goes back in time to the 1970s, to the East Coast of the USA. A girlfriend introduces the young Scott (Harry Eden) to the world of David Bowie and Bryan Ferry. But the energetic seductive art of the mother of his best friend throw a shadow over this tender love.
Baillie Walsh has made music videos for Massive Attack and INXS, commercials for Levi’s and the full-length documentary Mirror, Mirror (1996) about a transvestite/prostitute with AIDS. With Flashbacks of a Fool he has made an accessible drama with a melancholy undertone. The greatest attractions are the patient buildup of suspense, the convincing acting and not lastly the design. That is almost inevitable for a story that goes back to the glamrock era by a director with a record of service like Walsh’s. The dance to If There Is Something by Roxy Music, in which the line ‘When we were young’ acquires a wry sound is irresistible super-kitsch. (EH)

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