This movie crept up on me. Timothy Spall is simply riveting and slowly charms you into his viewpoint. He seems at first to be a shabby cynic, but as time goes on you see that he is also a nerdy genius. Though slow at first, it is an example of very good story-telling and ends up making you feel very good about mankind and really aware of how diverse are the circumstances of life and the souls who step up to the challenges they present. The title has two meanings in that we are dealing with photos collected and arranged in categories that only Spall's character can really navigate expertly. Also, we find, in following his character (Oswald Bates) through the archive -- intent on following a thread -- that we are traveling in a viscous medium and find ourselves shooting the rapids of accumulating facts, inferences and dates.
Review of Shooting the Past
