Spinning Man (2018)

Typical plot elements for this type of crime: a teacher (older male of course) supposedly has an affair or two w/his female students. It turns out, to make the viewer question his guilt, there was supposed to have been a similar incident years before resulting in he and his family moving to another teaching position. A female ends of missing and presumed dead at a location where our teacher has visited. So, we viewers our fed lots of sketchy, inconsistent, contradictory scenes for the rest of the movie as we are suppose to make our decision on his guilt. Unfortunately, despite the adequate acting out of the boringly very stereotypical roles (e.g. the teacher, the cop, the family, the missing "high school cheerleader") it all just seemed muddled. Forgettable film.

The film starts off good, keeps you guessing for awhile, but then loses its way. The ending seemed a bit mashed. As others have said, it's not great but it's not bad. Average is what it is. 5/10

The film's narrative evolved in complexity to the point that different paralel narratives, the blending of past and present, identities and versions of the same stories made everything confusing. Some people got that it was very deep because it questioned the reliability and indeed the concept of memory, etc., etc. However a more clear narrative and another, confusing finale would have been desirable

This psychodrama, set in a sleepy suburb, deep in the dream that America should be, concerns a college philosophy professor, a murder detective, and a long suffering wife. However, the main cast member, hiding in plain sight, is Language. "What is truth?" asks one student of the professor; we knew that one would come up at some point.Is a paradox a linguistic bear trap, or is it a description of our everyday experience? How can we know, if our recollection is flawed by partiality, bias, and the bandwaggoning fallacy?Ultimately, if we stay the turgid course of this slow-motion meandering, we are no nearer a solution, either for ourselves or the characters in the story.The cinematography is engaging, the editing adequate, but the grading is rather too extreme in the teal and orange direction. Was this to flag the lacklustre nature of this film as a whole? The dialogue was clearly presented, rather wordy at times, but not heavy on exposition as one might expect from a college based script.The three principals, Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan, and Minnie Driver keep us entertained, despite the slow, sometimes nihilistic pace.Although there is a death in the film, I'm glad to report that the English language was not a casualty.