HIDDEN GEMS: ‘Shimmer Lake’ Review

“A conventional crime thriller gets turned on it’s head in the twisty, pulpy, but not always very funny, Shimmer Lake.”

“…What is the point of being the only clean person in a town that’s completely dirty?”Sheriff Zeke Sikes, making a very good point.

Shimmer Lake wears it’s influences on its sleeve. Taking place in a Coen Brothers-esque version of small-town America, it takes a Tarintino-style view of linear story-telling (That it’s for cowards) and open’s on a Friday morning in the aftermath of a bank robbery and ends immediately after the crime is committed on a Tuesday night. We’re swiftly introduced to Andy and Zeke Sikes, brothers on opposite sides of the law, with Zeke as the town’s sole competent law-enforcement officer and Andy as a disgraced lawyer in way over his head, wanted after being spotted speeding away from the scene of the crime.

As the film gets underway, and we find ourselves going back in time-going from Friday to Tuesday in reverse order-the bodies start to pile up and it becomes increasingly clear that there is something more to the robbery. I don’t want to give to much away, but suffice to say, the last 15-minutes throws a lot of our assumptions out the window and will have you scrambling to re-wind to pick up on the clues you missed first time around.

There are enough sprinkled throughout the film that the climax feels justified, rather than a random twist just for the sake of it. First-time director Oren Uziel does a good job with the structure of the film, keeping it relatively simple despite its unconventional timeline. The timeline holds up well even on a second viewing, bar one scene where two characters speak over the phone in a conversation that shouldn’t be possible at that point in the film. 

That being said, the plot creaks a little bit once you start to think about it too much. The final reveal is great, and set-up well, but also raises the spectre of how many variables there are in the plan. it’s not hard to imagine that if it wasn’t for the scriptwriters guiding hand the whole story would have ended very differently. That may sound pedantic-all fiction relies on the will of the author-but it all depends how willing you are to suspend your disbelief. As it happens, Shimmer Lake is a good enough film that I’m happy enough to do that, but that may not be the case for everyone.

The reversed narrative of the film also leads us to the unusual situation of us being introduced to two characters as corpses first, and advance knowledge of another character’s demise through the vast majority of the film. In a lesser film, being aware of these forgone conclusions would suck all the tension out of their scenes, but Shimmer Lake keeps us guessing with the how’s and why’s so that it’s still entertaining watching these doomed people scramble to their deaths.

Despite how deftly Uziel manages to navigate the films potential shortfalls, he can’t disguise the fact that, ultimately, Shimmer Lake is a pretty conventional crime thriller. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this-not every film has to reinvent the wheel, and there are many films that have failed because they try to stand out for the sake of it-but the reality is, if the film was edited in a completely linear fashion, the plot wouldn’t be as interesting, exposing the film’s structure as mostly a gimmick, rather than any sort of innovation.

Furthermore, although there are some funny moments-Andy’s chaotic home invasion of judge Dawkin’s house-springs to mind- Shimmer Lake mostly relies on quirky characters rather than actual jokes. I did more exhaling-out-my-nose-to-acknowledge-something-was-meant-to-be-funny that I did actually laughing. The jokes that do land though are clever though, set up in advance and making good use of the narrative structure,

Lastly, we get some excellent performances. Rain Wilson stands out the best as Andy, playing a brilliantly broad role as the archetypal in-over-his-head scumbag, right down to constantly calling his femme fatale girlfriend Baby. John Michael Higgins and Mark Rendall do excellent jobs bringing pathos to their otherwise absurd roles, and Benjamin Walker does a great job as the town’s stoic sheriff with no choice other than to hunt his brother down.

Overall, Shimmer Lake is a twisty and pulpy crime romp that uses a clever gimmick to disguise what, told conventionally, would be a pretty straightforward tale. Don’t hold that against it though, as the twist at the end is satisfying and the journey to get there is intriguing to watch, even if the films sense of humour is hit and miss. If you’re happy to watch something a little bit different, Shimmer Late is definitely worth a watch.

Verdict 3.9/5

OTHER STUFF

• Absolutely excellent use of Tame Impala for the end-credits song.
• Without sounding cruel, I really didn’t get the cast constantly making out that Steph is apparently the most attractive woman in the world.
• Does Crystal Meth give people the runs? I am only a simple and naïve reviewer, so I have no idea.

Next Time: Given the recent announcement about Thor 4, I’m considering really stretching the definition of “Hidden Gems” and watching  Taika Waititi’s seminal horror comedy “What We Do In The Shadows”