Rewind

What isn’t mentioned here is the fact that Neulinger had a brief career as a child actor. Fans of the Farrelly brothers may recognize him as the young Jack Black in 2001’s “Shallow Hal,” and it’s downright excruciating to revisit his big scene in the film, since the would-be laughs are spawned from the absurdity of an adult giving inappropriately sexual advice to his bewildered son. According to Henry, pain was routinely cloaked in humor during his childhood, as he watched his father being repeatedly berated and ridiculed by his mother, who avoided emotions as much as her husband steered clear of confrontations. This caused Henry to embrace the role of jokester in his fractured home, providing a source of escapism that he would later funnel into his incessant filming (he subsequently has built his own career as a historical documentarian). Just as Sasha’s bravery in speaking out at a vulnerable age opened the floodgates on his family’s history of abuse, his adult self has resolved to help his loved ones heal by forcing them to confront their past, revisiting the exact locations where pivotal events occurred and walking through them step by step. 

Among the film’s great heroes is Sasha’s psychiatrist, Dr. Herbert Lustig, who is moved to tears when recalling how his young client heeded his advice while taking the stand to testify against Howard. He instructed the boy to place a yarmulke on his head as a source of spiritual comfort, symbolizing how the boy’s beloved great-grandfather, Joseph, would protect him throughout the hearing. Lustig argues that Sasha’s firmness in declaring Howard’s guilt is the only victory that matters, since the ultimate verdict is left in the hands of an easily corrupted justice system. Detective George Ohrin recounts how Larry swiftly confessed once he failed a polygraph test, while Howard allowed his case to drag on for years, banking on Sasha’s desire to move on with his life, thus securing for him a plea deal that involved no prison time. Instead of lingering on this egregiously undeserved outcome, Neulinger emphasizes the relief he experienced as a teenager finally capable of loving himself once again, basking in the warmth of family and friends as he dances at his bar mitzvah. 

Equally touching is a wonderfully eccentric funeral scene from earlier in Sasha’s youth, as he insists that his pet guinea pig be buried directly in the ground rather than in a box so that it could be consumed by the “plants and veins” of Mother Earth. This line turns out to be a prophetic one, since Neulinger has never opted for a filtered reality requiring painful memories to be stored in boxes. In many ways, “Rewind” is a therapeutic masterwork on par with Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap,” both of which affirm how the essence of cinema is the act of seeing ourselves reflected in one another’s stories, as demonstrated by how Henry’s memory of focusing on bathroom tiles while being abused mirrors his daughter’s recollection of losing herself in the picture of a cat, thereby shielding her mind from the transgression felt by her body. Watching the film, I was overcome with the same exhilaration that accompanied my viewing in early 2018 of the astonishing testimonies made by hundreds of “sister survivors” united in their mission to prevent their abuser, disgraced U.S. Olympics doctor Larry Nassar, from taking advance of any more innocent souls. Mission Kids, the child advocacy center founded by Neulinger, is a natural extension of that same desire to create a safe space for us to share our truth, and I have no doubt that “Rewind” will have a similarly transformative impact on countless lives. This is one of the year’s best films.

Premieres on VOD today, 5/8.

— 2019 Hollywood Movie Review