Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Flashback’ on Netflix, A Short Film In Need of Feature Expansion

Netflix has still never managed to get that elusive Best Picture trophy at the Oscars. But they’ve never had trouble getting their short films noticed, as it often feels like they regularly rank among the nominees and winners. Will Flashback (now streaming on Netflix) join their ranks or drop among the tiles?

FLASHBACK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: An ominous force with a clock attached to its chest reading 08:26 hovers outside Jess’s yoga class in 2022, which then snaps her back to a park bench conversation with a friend. She explains the strangely haunting comfort of the skeletal figure Dr. Bones, who always seems to be hanging around her peripheral vision. Later, Jess and her partner Scott are shot by an armed intruder in their flat, prompting a whirlwind journey back through her past. Once she controls her breathing, she can take an active role in the moments she’s reliving. The opportunity presents her with a tough choice about whether to intervene to save the ones she loves from making the same decisions that lead to the timeline she just saw coming to a bloody end.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Somewhere between Back to the Future and Groundhog Day, with perhaps a dash of sci-fi genre like Timecrimes or Source Code sprinkled in.

Performance Worth Watching: Jemma Moore as old Jess is a sturdy anchor through the various periods that the short cycles through.

Memorable Dialogue: Ominous narration from Jess about our lives flashing before our eyes sets the tone for the short from the jump. “If you could control that flashback and live in the moment again,” she asks, “would you change things?”

Sex and Skin: A couple on the verge of engagement sits in bed together, but they only engage in conversation.

Our Take: Flashback clearly feels like a proof-of-concept for a feature version of this plot conceit. Writer/director Jed Shepherd seems to have a lot on his mind with the idea about the ability to change the course of our lives in the replay we see when we die. Yet a duration this brief does not give him the ability to adequately develop more than one idea. There’s something here, and Netflix would be wise to expand it into a full feature. Shepherd has ably demonstrated the strength of the idea within the limitations of the format. The value of watching this project in its infancy, though, is debatable.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Wait for the feature version of Flashback. The dozen-or-so minutes won’t feel like a waste, but you’ll leave wanting more than the short is able to provide you.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Watch Flashback on Netflix