Memória

Hoo-boy, adulting is hard. There is very little light in this overcast tale of struggling grown-ups, resulting in a tough viewing experience.

Jessica Chastain, as an emotionally detached, recovering alcoholic single mother, and Peter Sarsgaard as a gentle giant simple man suffering from the onset of dementia, form an unlikely, damaged couple. Hated in fact. Sylvia believes Saul attacked her in high-school, and carries a lifetime of spite. Saul has no memory of the event, can offer no real defense, only a meek apology.

Mexican writer and director Michel Franco spins a messy web dealing with various memory issues with all parties involved. The film takes time to develop, often at an infuriating pace, offering very little to solve the puzzle, and presents it all in an uncomfortable, grey sheen. The dialogue rings true though, characters stumble over each others' words. Silences are achingly long as pregnant thoughts are sometimes aborted, or awkwardly presented. The stark realism that feels improvised on the spot, might be a great achievement, but it is not for everyone.

The leads are magnificent, stumbling through their vulnerabilities, and eventual hard truth reveals. Kudos. Those dedicated enough to go along for the ride will be rewarded with what amounts to closure, and more importantly, something to ponder in the days to come.

• hipCRANK.

Story of the encounter of two lonely, battered souls, searching for love, peace, acceptance and meaning in life. Told with class, cleverly avoiding cheap sentimentalism, treating viewers as intelligent breed. Scenes are woven together so that story runs smoothly, lightning is beautiful. Jessica is on top form, acting with her usual style, persuasion and expressing just what the story needs. Sarsgaard gets under your skin with ease and charm. Merrit Wever is again persuading with her detachment and minimalism, reasons revealed at the end.

Movie that touches you deep, connects and lets you leave the theatre grateful for what it gives you. Highly recommended.

What is a film? To me it's an experience that you view through your own experiences. Life's not easy. Not perfect. Many times it's hard. Things happen to you that you didn't deserve and it leaves scars in your heart and emotions.

This film is about that very thing. Damaged people. Like all of us in our own way. Damaged trying to get thru this world with less pain. This is why I love this movie. It's just a subtle, raw view into pain and trauma and the little glimpses of hope. Of peace. Of love. It's hard for a lot of people out there.

So if you want to see an artistic film about this subject with no score, no gimmicks and some of the most vulnerable acting I've seen. This is for you.

One trigger warning: if you've dealt with sexual assault on any level this may be hard to watch.

I have been keeping up with Michel Franco for awhile as I have enjoyed his works on "After Lucia, Chronic, and April's Daughter". While "New Order" and "Sundown" aren't perfect, I expect Franco to offer some interesting concepts and direction in his movies. "Memory" isn't the best movie he has done but it's still captivating with strong performances from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, atmosphere, and direction throughout.

The narrative explores heavy traumatic themes that are pretty interesting without feeling cheap or exploitive. Although some of the narrative choices and concepts are left to more to be desired and at moments, a bit confusing on certain decisions, the writing and Franco's direction keeps the story on feeling compelling. The camerawork and production is solid. The performances are really good as Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard gave great performances to their characters and emotions. Unfortunately, some of the child performances aren't very good and noticeably poor.

The dialogue is solid as there are some interesting conversation moments, the characters are interesting and the themes, while at times it feels a little heavy-handed, are well-explored without feeling messy or cheap. However, unlike Franco's other works, it doesn't feel as impactful as it could have been and probably Franco's more tamer works unlike his usual style. Which does at times feel a bit detached.

Overall, despite the flaws, I still found the narrative, the performances and concepts to be interesting.

I really liked this one. I'm sure other's will have their ideas of what it's about but it's really about love and broken people. And really isn't everyone broken to some degree?

I found the movie tackled the subject matter and characters in a very intimate way, it's almost a meditation on how people deal with trauma and prevail and how even broken people can love.

One character can't remember the other can't stop remembering. I'm sure there is something there, I'll have to think on that more- but they find each other and it turns out they have a lot to offer each other.

Marvelous film in my opinion.