Most mysteries are similar, moving to an inevitable and familiar conclusion.
Spinning Man (2018) takes a different route. When a high school cheerleader goes missing, all signs point to a professor of the psychology of linguistics, a known philanderer, played ably by Guy Pearce. Minnie Driver plays his suffering wife, Pierce Brosnan the lead investigator. Is the prof guilty or will there be a twist? The flick's best aspect is the incorporation of psychology, frequently done in a classroom setting. The major theme is the reliability of memory. While I agree that it is often deceptive, I believe it captures the essence of our reminisces, at least in healthy minds. It is rare that it is as dramatic as presented in the film. In this case, it seems borderline mental illness. Oddly, for me the best example that illustrates how memory alters with time involves TV shows and movies. I am always surprised to find that scenes that I was certain I had down pat, that I'd watched many times, were at least slightly different. Anyway, is this a good film? I found it interesting. I'd guess most fans of the genre would be disappointed. It is geared more to those who enjoy exploration of the mind rather than thrills. The poster claims it is about spin, ala what politicians do. I think the spinning refers to a troubled, confused mind. Simon Kaijser, whose work has been largely in Scandinavian TV, directed. He took a noir approach to the scenes inside the suspect's house, which I found forced. I suppose he was expressing the darkness in the protagonist's life. Matthew Aldrich adapted the screenplay from the novel by George Harrar. It was filmed in California, and runs an hour-forty-minutes. There is almost no action. It is basically all dialogue. Despite the subject matter, there is nothing most folks would find offensive. 5000+ users have rated
Spinning Man at IMDb, forging to a consensus of 5.6 on a scale of ten. I think it's a little better than that. It seems to have had a limited theatrical release. Box Office Mojo lists returns from only Croatia and Greece, a mere $200,000 total. Its budget was $8.5 million. Even considering Brosnan's popularity, I doubt it recouped it costs in DVD sales and rentals, and streaming.
From
Yahoo's Odd News: The town of Friedberg, Germany has interesting traffic lights:
My thanks to Sasha's grandma, who donated a stack of books equally divided between Russian and English; and to the gentleman who bought the last two Christmas CD's in stock; and to the old-timer who purchased two thrillers in Russian; and to the woman who selected one. Special thanks to the guy who handed me a fiver, said "Merry Christmas" and kept walking.
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