Wish You Were Here

Thirteen years after Memento, 19 after Pulp Fiction, and a decade after 21 Grams, jumbling a film’s chronology no longer feels passé nor excitingly unique. It’s just another trick of the trade, successfully employed by some, unsuccessfully by others. As demonstrated in the elusive new Australian drama Wish You Were Here, one of the better rationales for telling a story out of order is that it can create a thrilling sense of disorientation. A mystery that keeps folding in on itself, this first feature from actor-turned-filmmaker Kieran Darcy-Smith oscillates without warning between two timeframes. A pervasive mood of paranoia and unease overwhelms any immediate understanding of what’s going on. It’s fun to feel lost, at least for a spell.