Shimmer Lake (2017)

The cast is absolutely stellar...so many great actors. I'm a huge fan of Benjamin Walker, and he is perfect in this role. I hate spoilers, but the plot is clever and twisted. I loved the "going backwards in time" set-up, although I'm sure that will bother some people. It enables the story to be doled out a little at a time. Full of great, quotable lines. There is a lot of humor that offsets the darker storyline. If you grew up in a small town, you'll just "get" this setting. I feel like I know every one of this characters. Would love to see more by this writer/director.

Once in a while a film jumps out that doesn't follow the conventional ways of storytelling and that certainly leads to a peak of interest. "Shimmer Lake" tells a murder mystery in reverse, in the ways Nolan brilliantly told his "Memento" decades ago, however nowhere near as gripping as that."Shimmer Lake" centers on an investigation lead by small-town sheriff Zeke Sikes, played by Benjamin Walker. The clever gimmick of the script is that the narrative is presented backwards, day by day within the time span of a week. While the way it informs the viewers on how the events came to be is interesting in its premise, the screenplay seems muddled and rushed, missing out tiny details or not explaining everything that leads up to the plot.The cast did a great job with an impressive performance by Rainn Wilson in particular. However, I felt like I couldn't connect with any of the characters and didn't find myself wanting them to either succeed or fail in the film. The film's running time doesn't even pass 90 minutes, this I believe, leading to a hasty narrative, overlooking backstory details."Shimmer Lake" sells itself as an interesting take on a crime mystery film, but ultimately it just isn't that interesting as it was supposed to be.

The structure is somewhat novel. All the scenes are in reverse order. It was okay, but, I have no intention of watching it again. I have two main criticisms. It is not as clever as it thinks it is, and I didn't like any of the character, except maybe the lazy FBI agents. The reverse structure is actually quite tedious at the beginning. It takes quite a while to get into and it is definitely not funny enough to be considered a comedy. Overall, I respect that they tried something unusual, but, it did not manage to win me over. Skip it. P.S. I hate that Mexican woman.

This film is really not bad. It was entertaining and interesting from the beginning til the end. The fact that it goes from the end to the beginning of the story makes it even more interesting in a way that you have to remember all the details with hope not to miss anything important and solve the story - like the tattoo arm that killed the guy.I have to admit that I was surprised by the truth and that adds to the + of this film.Low budget but the actors were all pretty good. Nice thriller with elements of comedy which I must say I did not find funny at all, but that does not make this film less interesting.Maybe the back story which triggered all of this - the accident in which a child is killed could have been explored more - though on the 2nd thought - it may not have added anything to the story. But as it is the one thing that started all...All in all, good way to spend your 90 minutes. 7 from me. Though it is close to 8.