'Rewind' Film Review: Family Tale of Sexual Abuse Is Wrenching and Essential

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Early in the documentary “Rewind,” we learn that director Sasha Joseph Neulinger’s father, Henry Nevison, has an extensive collection of other people’s home movies – shelves stacked with film canisters that show strangers mugging for the camera, acting silly and doing their best to look very happy.

And then the film turns to Neulinger’s own home movies, and shows us the lies and the horror that can lie beneath those forced smiles and that awkward jollity.

The secrets that emerge, not so much in those home movies as in the recollections of the people in them, are the dark history of a family wracked, and wrecked, by generations of sexual abuse. Make no mistake, “Rewind” is hard to watch. It might also be essential.

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The film, which premiered at Tribeca last year and is screening on demand on Friday, May 8 and on PBS’ Independent Lens on Monday, May 11, is a wrenching but necessary directorial debut for Neulinger, an occasional actor whose most high-profile role was as the young Jack Black in “Shallow Hal.” “Rewind” was assembled, he says in the film, out of “a puzzle made from my life, and I feel like I have to put that puzzle back together if I’m ever really going to move on.”

The puzzle was documented from birth, because Sasha’s father was late for that event because he was out buying a video camera. From the looks of things, and judging by the complaints of his wife, Jacqui, he rarely put the camera down for the next decade or so. “I felt like I lost my husband,” Jacqui says. “My husband disappeared into that lens.”

What he documented is ordinary enough at first: Sasha seems to be a bright, inquisitive kid in the earliest footage, and then suddenly the brightness disappears and he’s wounded, angry and volatile, yelling into the camera and everyone around him.

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Because we know something is wrong early in the film, we’re naturally suspicious of every new person who’s introduced via home videos: Uncle Larry, who’s Sasha’s godfather and has a naturally sleazy look about him; Uncle Howard, a budding opera star with a beautiful voice and a sinister presence; Cousin Stewart, Larry’s son, with an air of menace that seemingly clings to him; and even Sasha’s father, Henry, who’s always hiding behind the camera and who became the prime suspect when the family first notified the authorities that Sasha had been abused.

From there the revelations come quietly, and they don’t stop. By the time Sasha was 7, he and his younger sister, Bekah, had been subject to years of abuse by multiple family members (not including Henry), with a history of abuse coursing through the family and leaving only more questions about how far back it went.

Neulinger doesn’t waste much time before he starts revealing these details; this is not a “who done it?” but a “how do you get past it?” And that proves to be extraordinarily difficult – especially given the time (the mid-1990s), when child victims of abuse were forced to repeat their stories over and over to police, social workers and lawyers to have any chance of seeing justice.

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You could say that justice is done to a small degree in “Rewind,” at least to the point where Sasha gets past the self-loathing, fear and anger that consumed him during the years of abuse. But the worst abuser gets the least punishment – and Sasha, while still a child, pointedly chooses to drop the last name Nevinson, so that he won’t share a name with his abusers, and take Neulinger, the name of his loving great-grandfather.

This is a devasting story, and everyone in the film is nearly destroyed by it – Sasha by years of suicidal thoughts, his father by enormous guilt over not protecting his children, his mother by the knowledge of what happened in her house. It is told quietly but unflinchingly, with a suggestion of healing: The film tells us that Sasha’s case inspired the creation of a child advocacy center, Mission Kids, and the passage of new laws that protect young abuse victims and make it easier for them to tell their stories.

That, at least, is satisfying. But in this time of pandemic, when we’re told that reports of domestic abuse have fallen dramatically, probably because the victims can’t get away from their abusers, it is hard to find much satisfaction in stories like these, however bravely and sensitively they’re told.

You’ll walk away from “Rewind” shaken by the story, and haunted by the face of a little boy with a world of hurt and nowhere to run.

“Rewind” is available on demand May 8.

Celebrities Who Have Died From the Coronavirus (Photos)

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.
Terrence McNally, a four-time Tony Award-winning playwright, died on March 24 at the age of 81 of complications from the coronavirus. His works included "Master Class," "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," which later became a film with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.
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Italian actress Lucia Bosè, who starred in such films as Michelangelo Antonioni’s "Story of a Love Affair" (1950) and Juan Antonio Bardem’s "Death of a Cyclist" (1955), died on March 23 of pneumonia after contracting COVID-19, according to the Guardian. She was 89.
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Chef Floyd Cardoz, winner of "Top Chef Masters" Season 3, died at the age of 59 of coronavirus complications on March 25.
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Mark Blum, who starred in "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Crocodile Dundee" and the Lifetime/Netflix series "You," died on March 26 of coronavirus complications. The veteran character actor and regular on New York City stages was 69.
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Maria Mercader, a CBS News veteran who worked for over 30 years as a reporter and talent director, died March 29 after testing positive for coronavirus. She was 54.
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Grammy-winning country music singer Joe Diffie died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He announced his diagnosis just two days prior.
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American rock musician Alan Merrill, best known for co-writing and recording the original version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," died March 29 of complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.
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Popular Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, whose career spanned decades, died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 70.
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Andrew Jack, a dialect coach who most recently was hired to work with Robert Pattinson on the new Batman movie, died March 31 of complications from coronavirus, TMZ reports. He also appeared in "Star Wars: Episode VII" as a member of Leia's resistance. Jack was 76.
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Adam Schlesinger, Fountains of Wayne singer and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" contribute, died at the age of 52 from coronavirus complications on April 1.
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Ellis Marsalis Jr., New Orleans jazz legend and father of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, died at 85 from COVID-19 complications, Branford said. "Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz... He was a teacher, a father, and an icon — and words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy and the wonder he showed the world," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said also.
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Eddie Large, one-half of the comedy duo Little and Large, died April 2 after contracting coronavirus while hospitalized for heart failure. He was 78.
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Sergio Rossi, the Italian shoe designer, died at age 84 after being hospitalized with the virus, the brand confirmed in an Instagram post Friday.
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Patricia Bosworth, a stage and screen actress turned journalist who penned celebrity biographies, died April 2 from complications of the coronavirus. She was 86.
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Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints legendary kicker who was born without toes on his right foot and wore a flat shoe that he kicked with, died on April 4 from complications of COVID-19.
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John Prine, one of the most influential and revered folk and country songwriters of the last 50 years, died on April 6 at the age of 73 after being infected with the COVID-19 virus.
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Allen Garfield, who appeared in such films as “The Conversation,” “Nashville” and “Irreconcilable Differences,” died April 7 due to coronavirus complications, according to his sister. He was 80.
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Charles Gregory, an Emmy-nominated hairstylist who frequently collaborated with Tyler Perry on his films and TV shows, died of complications from COVID-19 on April 8.
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Hilary Heath, an actress and producer who starred opposite Vincent Price in horror movies in the late 1960s and early '70s, died in April of COVID-19 complications. She was 74.
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Rick May, a voice actor best known to gamers as the husky-throated Soldier in Team Fortress 2, died in Swedish nursing home on April 13 after contracting COVID-19. He was 79.
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Allen Daviau, a 5-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, died April 15 at age 77. He frequently collaborated with Steven Spielberg, and worked on such films as "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "The Color Purple"
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Henry Grimes, celebrated jazz bassist, died on April 15 at age 84, according to WGBO. He worked with such legends as Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins.
"Knight Rider" and "Magnum P.I." producer Joel Rogosin died of coronavirus at the MPTF nursing home. He became the fifth person to die from COVID-19 complications at the facility.
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Rapper Fred the Godson died after contracting coronavirus, a representative confirmed to Complex. He wrote on social media of his diagnosis on April 6, but he did not recover.
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Art director Matteo De Cosmo, who worked on films including "Emergence," "The Punisher" and "Luke Cage," died of coronavirus complications. He was 52.
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Roy Horn, best known as half of the legendary Siegfried & Roy magic and animal act in Las Vegas, died on May 8 from complications due to coronavirus.
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Legendary Auburn football coach Pat Dye died on June 1 after combating COVID-19 and other medical conditions. He was 80.
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Chris Trousdale, a member of the boy band Dream Street, died of coronavirus complications on June 2. He was 34.
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Broadway star Nick Cordero passed away on July 5 due to complications from coronavirus. He was 41.
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Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza who sought the Republican nomination for president in 2012, died July 30 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 74. He was hospitalized in Atlanta just days after attending a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was seen without a mask.
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Trini Lopez, the singer of "If I Had a Hammer" and an actor in "The Dirty Dozen," died on Aug. 11 from COVID-19. He was 83.
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While many celebrities who contracted COVID-19 have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.

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