Flashbacks of a Fool ***** (2008, Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, Claire Forlani, Felicity Jones, Emilia Fox, Eve, Jodhi May, Helen McCrory, Miriam Karlin) – Classic Movie Review 11,105

Daniel Craig bravely stars in what may be his finest piece of film acting in the haunting, heartbreaking 2008 British drama film Flashbacks of a Fool playing a fading, ageing British actor called Joe Scot living in Hollywood. His once successful career is going down and he spends his time with alcohol, drugs and one-night stands.

Joe gets a call from his mother to say his childhood best friend Boots, whom he has not seen in years, has unexpectedly died. When his agent tells Joe he is washed up and quits, he walks to the beach and swims out to sea contemplating suicide. As he floats in the waves, he thinks back to the final summer holiday he spent with Boots in a seaside town in 1970s Britain and reflects on his life and what might have been had he stayed in England.

It is beautifully written and directed by Baillie Walsh, and also features Harry Eden as Teenage Joe Scot, Claire Forlani as Adult Ruth, Felicity Jones as Young Ruth, Emilia Fox as Sister Jean, Eve as Ophelia Franklin, Jodhi May as Evelyn Adams, Olivia Williams as Grace Scot, Helen McCrory as Peggy Tickell, Mark Strong as Mannie Miesel, Max Deacon as young Boots McKay, and Miriam Karlin as Mrs Rogers. It is an extraordinarily fine cast, encouraged to deliver exquisite performances, subtle, strong and strenuous.

Flashbacks of a Fool is a sensitive, ambitious, exquisitely developed film that envelops the audience in its characters and dilemmas, and packs huge emotional surge in its feelings of yearning, nostalgia, loss and hope. It is that rare thing among films, a true healing experience. It is a tremendous achievement. The ensemble acting matches director Baillie Walsh’s writing and directing for excellence. Walsh makes nostalgic use of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music on the soundtrack, especially ‘If There Is Something’.

It is mainly shot in Cape Town in South Africa and England, and is Walsh’s first feature after directing music videos for Massive Attack, Oasis and INXS. Walsh also directed the documentaries Mirror Mirror, the 2007 Oasis rockumentary film Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, Springsteen & I, and Being James Bond (2021), a documentary about Daniel Craig as 007.

The sleek cinematography is by John Mathieson, who shot Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Matchstick Men and Kingdom of Heaven.

Also in the cast are Julie Ordon as Carrie Ann, Gina Athans as Apple, Max Deacon as young Boots McKay, Jodie Tomlinson as Jane Adams, Keeley Hawes as Jesse Scot and Mia Clifford as young Jesse Scot.

Flashbacks of a Fool is directed by Baillie Walsh, runs 114 minutes, is made by Left Turn Films, Ugly Duckling Films and Visitor Pictures, is released by Miramax Films through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, is written by Baillie Walsh, is shot by John Mathieson, is produced by Lene Bausager, and is scored by Richard Hartley.

Release date: 13 April 2008.

Harry Eden (born 1 March 1990) won a British Independent Film Award in 2003 for Most Promising Newcomer for the 2002 Pure. He played Nibs in the 2003 Peter Pan, and the Artful Dodger in Roman Polanski’s 2005 Oliver Twist.

The cast are Daniel Craig as adult Joe Scot, Harry Eden as young Joe Scot, Claire Forlani as adult Ruth, Felicity Jones as young Ruth, Emilia Fox as Sister Jean, Eve as Ophelia Franklin, Jodhi May as Evelyn Adams, Miriam Karlin as Mrs Rogers, Helen McCrory as Peggy Tickell, James D’Arcy as Jack Adams, Mark Strong as Mannie Miesel, Olivia Williams as Grace Scot, Julie Ordon as Carrie Ann, Gina Athans as Apple, Max Deacon as Young Boots McKay, Jodie Tomlinson as Jane Adams, Keeley Hawes as Jesse Scot, and Mia Clifford as Young Jesse Scot.

Helen McCrory OBE (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021).

Appallingly Helen McCrory died of cancer on 16 April 2021 at the age of 52. Her husband Damian Lewis said she died ‘peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family’. Her ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’ cast mates remembered the actress as a ‘Force of Nature,’ a ‘Goddess’ and ‘a Genuine Firecracker’.

RIP Helen Elizabeth McCrory OBE (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021). She played Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010). She also portrayed Françoise in Charlotte Gray (2001), Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Peggy Tickell in Flashbacks of a Fool (2008), Mama Jeanne in Martin Scorsese’s family film Hugo (2011), Clair Dowar in the Bond film Skyfall  (2012), Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders (2013–2019), Jean Hogg in The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014), Emma Banville in Fearless (2017), and Kathryn Villiers in MotherFatherSon (2019).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,105

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