Memory Box

This is one of Lebanon's most beautiful films and definitely the best film that the directing duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige has made. The period is so well captured and the performances are so endearing! I loved the use of graphics in the film to bring in the element of old photographs into life. It works so well and so beautiful on the screen. I usually don't like such graphics in a fiction but it works so well! When I first heard of the film, I was a bit hestitant to watch because I really didn't want to watch another film about the war in Lebanon but this film is not that! It is about love, nostalgia and a mother-daughter relationship.

Poignant movie and plot, filled with emotions. The archival aspect makes an innovative way of talking about the Civil war in Lebanon. The storyline describes what most children of 'civil war affected' parents live... the denial, secrecy and lack of sharing is fought through the search of answers from the daughter.

For me, it sounds as familiar story. A box with old memories is delivered to a venerable lady who, first, refuses it. The box containes diaries and photos from the early ages of her daughter , composing, like pieces of puzzle, Lebanon war, family relations, first romance, the death of father, all covered by the refuge in Canada.

The daughter of recipient, a teen girl, explores, secretly, this treasure, discovering a past unknown of her mom.

A trip at Beirut seems good frame for reconciliation between them and, in same measure, the reconciliation with past of mother.

Indeed, for many motives, a beautiful film. Seductive, touching, well crafted, nostalgic, melancholical.

Its virtue- science to suggest and fair steps of confrontation, in some measure, in poetic manner, with past.

This was a really interesting film. For me it had two main components. One is emotional, linking different stories of war-torn Lebanon in the 1980s, and how one links (or does not link) memory (and regret and denial) with heritage for a younger generation that never knew the country. For me personally, it was amazing how many musical references I could catch (all of them). On that level the film is admirable, engaging, and one can see that all involved partake in what is a deep connection, and catharsis that celebrates survival, however it was achieved. That aspect is worth a 10/10.

However, there is another aspect, which is the structure of the film itself, and what it leaves unexplored as a narrative. I found that some issues, notably related to context and who many of the characters were and what become of them were lacking. That part was not really as convincing as it could have been.

That was a good movie that took me through the journey of what it is to live and love through civil war.

I loved the way the producers chose to show the mother's memories, the plot was very simple yet strong and engaging.

The ending was a bit dreamy, but from what I understood from the makers is that it is meant to give hope to the audience.