If you make a movie and it starts with a scene that would chronologically happen after the next part of the movie, you’re an asshole.
That’s a flash-forward, a flashback is a dip into the past, hence the “back” part
Wouldn’t it be the movie starts at present then it turns into a flashback for the majority of the movie then it goes back to the present for the wrap up?
So when will then be now?
Soon.
This is basically how Arrival (2016) is. You see a flash-forward and then most of the movie happens in the past relative to that first scene.
Easily my favorite movie!
You’re right. Never thought about that. Thank you.
record scratch I bet your wondering how I came up with this comment. Well, it starts 5 minutes ago…
Especially when they show a bunch of dead characters, and then you rewind and see them kissing their kids goodbye or petting a puppy and promising to take them to the park when they retire tomorrow. That’s just emotional manipulation, and it makes me feel detached from all of those characters. “None of this backstory matters because they will all be irrelevant to the story soon.”
Then they do that bullshit fakeout “haha, nobody was actually dead, they were pretending for some contrivance so we could make you think they would be dead. Eveybody is alive and the puppy does get to go to the park!” That’s not a happy ending. Go fuck yourself, that’s a happy ending. You, the filmmaker, fucking off and stubbing your toe, that would make me feel better about your attempt at forcing me to care.
Saving Private Ryan
Forest Gump
Wrong, watch Hardcore Henry. It has the perfect flashback opening for its story
Momento fans are in shambles!
For 99.44% of movies, I think your opinion could be more accurately stated thusly:
If your movie starts
with a flashback, you suckThis is the literal reason I could not watch the new lost in space series. The first episode was flashback hell and I never bothered to go further than that. If you need to keep flashing back to “the start of the story” maybe you should just fucking start there.
On the flip side, I recently watched Scorsesi’s Casino for the first time which starts with Robert DeNiro’s character getting blown up. Was a great movie still.
If you start a trilogy with Episode 4, then everything before Episode 4 and after episode 6 is going to suck.
deleted by creator
“Why am I replying to him, oh, he’s replying to me…”
Eh, I agree with the OP, but Memento isn’t comparable to the sort of thing they’re complaining about. Memento is a story told backwards to mess with your perception of the story. The “flashbacks” (flashforwards) are a lazy trope to either try to suck you into the story by giving you the cool part near the climax as the front of the movie or some emotional manipulation crap. The “I bet you’re wondering how I got here” variant is the absolute worst tho…
The departed?
I always liked the cut to him in the academy in the beginning.
