I guess the message of this movie is don’t do drugs. Or possibly do not have done drugs in the future. Or do do not do drugs. And the meaning of me watching this movie is… don’t watch head-scratching movies with a tangential relationship with causality while drowsy since this ethereal bit of whackery is a great way to dose in and out of consciousness, not entirely sure what you’ve dreamed and what was actually on screen (don’t worry, I reversed and caught up).

To ask what the plot of Flashback is would make Flashback laugh if it had a mouth… or multiple mouths across multiple realities and timelines. It’s more-or-less about a guy (Dylan O’Brien) who is trying to remember a time in high school and what happened to the girl he was in love with. And the designer drug that maybe he shouldn’t have tried. But that doesn’t really express the disconnection-from-reality, experimental nature of the film… a flick where time and space and causality are a suggestion, if not a rumor.

I was a little mixed on the movie, to be honest. But, when it was over and I sat back, I just asked myself if the vision of the filmmaker’s had been achieved. And this movie achieved whatever whateverness it was going for. I can’t argue that this isn’t an assured and self-confident display of some trippy, heady ideas. This is surely exactly what was they wanted to put on screen. And three cheers for accomplishing that… and for hiring a hell of an editor to glue it all together.

And I wasn’t bored… as much as I’m not 100% sure I understand everything that happened, I was usually always pretty engaged. I suspect that the film could easily have ended twenty minutes before it did… but I’ll respect their desire to keep going (and, in so doing, finding a possibly more concrete ending than I was predicting… sort of).

Check this one out if you don’t mind a head-scratcher that may not scratch that itch for logic or a cohesive narrative. If you like experimental films or trippy, challenging narratives, this one might be for you. Or, hey, if Dylan O’Brien is your cup of tea, I suppose.

Score: 81