Ed is on work experience at the job centre, working with a slightly older man to deal with enquires and type them into the system. His mentor thinks he can read people easily but Ed knows better he has a gift of doing just that seeing their past and their actions played out in front of him.
This is the simple set up for a short story that plays on this ability without really adding much in the way of substance into the mix. The flashes of people's pasts suggest that it is heading somewhere but, when we get to the final story it is too simple and unlikely to really satisfy as a conclusion. We know nothing more than we did at the start except that maybe this gift is real and, in this story, items can bring bad luck. "So what?" you may ask and so did I.
The direction is OK and the flashback scenes are pretty stylish despite being a little obvious and recognisable but the story isn't there. The acting is OK but again with nothing to work with in terms of meaning, most of them are just there. Mootoo is natural and convincing but unfortunately is playing the arrogant sort of wide-boy tw*t that we all wish we didn't know but do.
Overall, more meaning or substance would have been a vast improvement on what we have here because, despite being quite interesting on the whole, the end result is pointless and quite unsatisfactory.
