JAGGED MIND - Mark Reviews Movies

Jagged Mind, Hulu

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | June 14, 2023

Presenting a potentially fractious relationship by way of a fractured narrative, the story and technique of Jagged Mind are much more intriguing on a theoretical level than they are in practice. That becomes especially true when screenwriter Allyson Morgan eventually reveals the underlying cause of why so much the tale seems both repetitive and illogical.

The story revolves around Billy (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), a woman who works at an art gallery and is recently single after her relationship with fellow gallery employee Christine (Rosaline Elbay) somewhat came to an end. Waiting on her ex at a local restaurant before an art showing, Billy is bought a drink by a mysterious woman at the bar. She's Alex (Shannon Woodward), and at the end some seemingly pleasant conversation, Billy heads off to the event alone and ends up going home with Christine, despite the fact that her ex stood her up just a few hours ago.

Waiting on her ex at a local joint before a work event at the gallery, Billy receives a drink from the mysterious Alex, sitting at the bar. The two chat about work and relationships with a nice rapport, but Billy still has that art exhibit opening to attend. As she leaves, Billy's new companion tells her, "See you next time," before Billy finds Christine at an after party and goes home with her.

While waiting for Christine at a nearby bar, Billy receives a drink from Alex, a woman who appears to know her from somewhere or something, perhaps. There's definitely something off about all of this, but the two talk at the bar, regardless, before Billy decides to invite her new companion to the opening of a new exhibit at her work. Alex accepts, and with Christine a no-show at both dinner and the gallery, Billy winds up going home with the woman she met a few hours prior.

That's the basic pattern of Morgan's script, which proceeds to chart the romantic relationship between Billy and Alex as a series of brief encounters, often replaying in ways that alter little details or readjust in the moment just as some significant event occurs. Director Kelley Kali uses abrupt editing and rapid-fire montages of quick, violent imagery to give us a sense that something is very, very wrong here—with Billy, with this relationship, or with both.

The effect is more confusing than it is unsettling, primarily because Morgan's screenplay is working toward the establishing the mystery of the gimmick without giving us much by way of characters or narrative to find any real grounding in the material. Indeed, much the story, especially the portrayal of the central relationship, comes across as a continual act of misdirection on the part of the filmmakers, and that makes it even more difficult to find a connection to who these characters are and what's happening to—or because of—them.

The first and most significant suggestion of why Billy seems to be living the same events over and over again is that she might be suffering symptoms of early-onset dementia. That might make sense at any given moment, as Billy's perception of certain events changes as they happen, but Morgan's clear-cut pattern of certain days, meetings, and other moments repeating only confounds the logic of that possibility. Since the movie wants to hold off from revealing the truth here for as long as possible, it means any semblance of logic or comprehension remains at a distance. In order for a lot of this repetition and major alterations of occurrences to work, it would take some kind of magic. That, though, would be just a downright silly explanation to throw at us out of nowhere, right?

What we do gather, though, is that Alex isn't exactly who or what she appears to be, and in those flashes of memories or false perceptions or alternate realities (The movie does eventually explain them, of course, but it still leaves us hanging for a while), we see someone controlling, angry, and abusive. The basic notion here—that such a person can have so much influence on a relationship and a person that reality can come into question—is a fascinating and disturbing one, but the all of the narrative trickery makes it seem as if that is the movie's primary concern, not the damaging effects of being trapped in such a destructive bond.

Jagged Mind clearly wants to be about more than its gimmicky narrative and hidden premise. The unnecessary and frustrating mystery of—not to mention the unfortunately absurd answer to—those things, though, greatly overshadows whatever deeper point it wants to make.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products