I'm Not Here, written and directed by Michelle Schumacher - 8 out of 10

I'm Not Here, written and directed by Michelle Schumacher 
8 out of 10


Judging from the poor Metascore that this film has - only 45, which means that critics have given it on average less that 50 out of 100 - you could do well to miss it.

Nonetheless, the performance of the Academy Winner - for Whiplash- J.K. Simmons is a pleasure to watch.
Although the film is a tragedy and the actor in the leading role has...no lines.

He plays Steve, who may be seventy, albeit there are two other actors sharing the same role, one is the main character as a young man and the other plays him as a child.
Senior citizen Steve looks back at his life, his childhood, parents and his own, rather brief fatherhood.

Steve's parents have argued and separated, fighting over the custody and other issues.
When the protagonist was a child and stayed with his father, he seemed to be able to set the table, climb a ladder and get the alcohol for his father.
That early acquaintance with drink may have had an impact and contributed to the later addiction of the adult.

For when we jump through time, we see that adult Steve had the same drinking problem his parent has had before him.
Furthermore, he would get married to Karen aka the formidable Maika Monroe - this viewer has been less impressed by Sebastian Stan aka young Steve, while Iain Armitage is outstanding as the boy Steve- and fail.

Steve the young father is hiding bottles of drink everywhere in the house.
Including among the toys of his child.

Exasperated and overwhelmed, Karen takes the bottles and empties tens of them in the sink.
When this is not enough, she has to resort to extreme solutions.

After all, she has tried...in bed, she performs felatio on a man that does not see how lucky he is, how fortunate he is to have a beautiful, dedicated, zestful wife who is also a wonderful mother.
Looking at the childhood of Stevie, there is an incident that has surely affected him deeply, apart from the mentioned marital quarrels, his father's drinking.

One day, as he is sitting at the table and his mother comes into the room, she says a few words and then leaves an envelope on the table, with a too careless attitude.
She should have thought that the child could look inside.

He did and he was very disturbed by the photographs that he found inside.
They showed his father sharing intimate, although not obscene or too graphic- at least not the ones the audience could see, moments with another man.

Alas, the fights, possible homosexuality of his father, the drinking all pale when put next to what may be a tragic loss.
There are clever trips back in time, with moments when we can think of quantum physics and the idea that time is fluid.

Matter and time are interchangeable...or aren't they?

When Senior Steve - let us not say old - looks in the mirror, he can see the young self.
At times, the young one seems to be able to see the senior citizen.

Alas, the retired protagonist drinks with abandon, immense quantities of apparently hard liquor.
The pistol he keeps close at hand, which he takes a few times to put to his head is another clear indication that he does not want to live anymore.

He has suffered too much, wants to forget by inebriation and looks like considering suicide.
Repeatedly.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a chance that he may return to save the one who might have died, if only in imagination.
Or, if this is A Dark Back to the Future, he may change the whole story and the sequel will he a happy, amusing part II.