Young film critic puzzled why post-Tarantino movie doesn’t show ending first

Hollywood, Calif. – Twenty-three-year-old film critic David Rothstein’s online review of the recently released movie Youngsters expressed overwhelming confusion regarding the film’s use of a linear timeline, as the 2010 production was absent the widely overused “puzzle movie” timeframe jumps popularized by filmmaker Quinten Tarantino nearly two decades ago.

“Youngsters’ dramatic plot unfolds in a bafflingly straightforward Point A-to-Point B manner,” said Rothstein, whose youth has prevented him from previously witnessing any dramatic cinema which dared stray from the Tarantino-inspired back-and-forth, interrupted timeline. “Naturally, any movie which lacks three or four flashbacks or jump-aheads within the first five minutes is going to be strange to try to follow, but by employing this innovative approach to filmmaking, director Norman Howard has created a refreshingly slow-paced film that fails to leave you guessing throughout.”

Of particular interest to Rothstein, according to his slate.com review, was that Youngsters did not use its beginning few minutes to introduce the viewer to the movie’s ending scenes – an absolute in dramatic filmmaking since the success of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

“Beginning with the immediate introduction of the title sequence and opening credits (!!!), viewers immediately get the picture that Youngsters is not going to be your average, by-the-numbers back-and-forth rocket ride to which they are accustomed,” wrote Rothstein. “What instead follows is an impressively undemanding and clear-cut storyline, which, while perhaps pioneering, may be a bit too little for some viewers to take in.”

In Rothstein’s opinion, by directing in such strong contrast to time-honored Hollywood grain, Howard stands alone among his peers – although it’s unclear whether this film, Howard’s first, will establish the young director in the film industry as a noodling simpleton or breakthrough visionary.

“This jarring substitution of brake-jamming scene transitions for a plodding, natural plot progression could breathe new life into the industry, as well as inspire imitation, should the film go on to experience success at the box office,” Rothstein wrote. “On the other hand, should national audiences pan this obscure picture, Howard’s peculiar storytelling method could easily fall into Hollywood’s growing pile of failed experiments.”