Spoilers are still a little dizzy.
This is not my usual kind of premises for a thriller. And yet, there’s mystery and drama without ever patronizing the audience. You pretty much know what happened, or you think you know. It’s not a twist film, but don’t really understand where it’s headed. That’s as much a strength as it ends being a weakness, because there’s always the choice for the underwhelming payoff. We’ll get into it because that’s what I do around here.
Spinning Man (2018) is directed by Simon Kaijser. The screenplay was written by Matthew Aldritch based on the novel by George Harrar. College professor Evan Birch (Guy Pearce) teaches philosophy and has an apparently happy married life with wife Ellen (Minnie Driver) and two kids. When a student goes missing, his life gets under scrutiny as Detective Malloy (Pierce Brosnan) keeps showing up in his life to question his whereabouts. Evan speaks as if he’s certain of all that he’s done and where he has been in the same patronizing way he gives his classes, but always highlighting that he’s actually not sure himself.
We learn early on that Ellen is resentful due to alleged indiscretions on Evan’s past that forced them to move from a previous location. The problem is, as much as Evan has assured her against the veracity of those past accusations, we’re often given fragments of past events which place him meeting and perhaps even making moves on the victim. Evan talks with authority even when he’s doubtful, making him a flawed narrator to his own memories. Surprisingly enough, the movie does give some (but not enough) time to Ellen as well, a wife that suspects that Evan himself is not sure whether his lies are actually truth or he’s spinned such a thread that he knows not if it’s factual.
In one of the most memorable acts, we are witnesses to an interaction between Evan and one his female students, Anna (Alexandra Shipp), with whom he might have past history. This scene is cringe because it’s well acted, you can almost see Evan’s gears turning as he discusses philosophy but is obviously attracted. Anna also seems too playful, or is this scene tainted by his flawed point of view? At the same time, we see Malloy visiting Ellen. The detective seems tired and almost bored, but we can see he’s obviously trying to pry information from Ellen. In one phrase that stuck, he tells the dutiful wife that his husband is making his work difficult by “preventing him from discarding him as a suspect”. The two scenes highlight the two potential hunts: the predator stalking new prey and the lawman closing in on a serial killer.
It works, yet it’s not always a comfortable watch. From Evan’s point of view his position should exempt him of all suspicion, but he has started to notice the black spots in his memory. Guy Pearce’s facial performance, full of mannerisms and shifty looks strongly conveys Evan doubting even as he speaks as if he was sure of himself. On the other hand, Pierce Brosnan’s take on Malloy is almost a more jaded Columbo-esque act of not knowing what he already knows. He does suspect Evan, and all his unrelated questions are an obvious attempt to make his case against the professor. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit underwhelming. It does aim to produce doubt, but at the same time the payback lacks that satisfying kick.
Recommended with reservations. We’re given great performances by Pearce and Brosnan, although you do with Driver would get a lot more screen time to shine. Pearce is particularly creepy to the point of cringe as he appears guilty as sin while he claims his innocence as fact. The ending is anti-climactic almost to the point of looking like a trap, it’s not completely unfitting but feels weak. Still worth a watch, although not at the very top of your list.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 