Memory

This film is almost impossible to talk about without disclosing both characters mental illnesses so if you'd consider that to be a spoiler stop reading now.

Memory is a drama that unbeknownst to me was released back in February but from my understanding only had a limited cinema run if at all.

It stars Jessica Chastain as Sylvia a social worker who after attending a high school reunion is followed home by Peter Sarsgaard's Saul.

Saul is suffering from Dementia and as is unfortunately the case with a lot of dementia sufferers he's become a burden to his brother who he lives with. His brother leads a busy work life and whilst she is initially hesitant Sylvia eventually agrees to look after Saul when she's not working her other job.

What I felt this film did a great job of getting across is how in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life when a family member has such an illness like dementia where they require care it's easy for the sufferer to start to feel less human.

This film shows Saul and his struggles but it also shows that he's still a human being who still has the cognitive ability to form relationships and be of use, he just requires extra care from time to time.

Sylvia on the other hand is a recovering alcoholic, the film explores the reason she started drinking but that would be going into spoiler territory. I will say though that although she's been sober for a long time she is still haunted by the events that unfolded in her past that lead her to start drinking.

The film whilst undoubtedly bleak in tone which is to be expected given the subject matter never has any images that are there purely to shock. Instead it's a very real take on how two people with their own individual struggles can find comfort in eachother.

I appreciated the films unique look at dementia and whilst it's certainly one you have to be in the right mindset for its worth watching if you get the chance.

Whilst the subject matter here is quite interesting, the execution isn't especially. "Sylvia" (Jessica Chastain) is working in the social care system whilst bringing up her daughter "Anna" (Brooke Taylor). Her life, as effectively illustrated by her door locking and burglar alarm routine each day, is a structured affair with little variation. She has a strong relationship with her sister but is completely estranged from her mother. The two women attend a school reunion one night and, leaving early, she is followed home. It's a miserable night and next morning she discovers him asleep outside her door. Inspecting his wallet, she discovers his identity and calls his brother "Isaac" (Josh Charles) who explains that "Saul" (Peter Sarsgaard) has memory issues. Was he stalking her or is there more to this rather meandering scenario? Chastain does work quite well, but I found the story seemed to randomly inject way too many "incidents" along the way that seemed designed to enliven or empower the plot. Many seemed a little too disaster-scenario prone and are used to enhance purely for dramatic purposes. The culminating scenes lacked plausibility and at times the whole thing came across as little better than an A-list soap opera. Coincidence underpins just a bit too much of the film and the delivery of information about the characters to the audience is all delivered in just too sporadically a fashion. I felt sorry for just about everyone involved, but I didn't feel particularly engaged.

Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.

The roles are played admirably by all of the main actors and with little prompt or background or character development, we slowly get to understand the main players and what drives them.

Sylvia is affected deeply by past memories that people try to convince her are untrue and that she is a liar and a bad person.

Saul cannot remember much at all as he has dementia. Polar opposites and yet attracted to one another leaning on each others strengths, whilst supporting each others weaknesses.

It's a little insight into dealing with people with dementia, and a glimpse of how people with a traumatic background can suffer right through life.

It's the friends and family who have to stand by them in times of stress.

It's a very quiet film with little meaningful dialogue, and some scenes where you have to fill in the blanks for yourself so if you're not getting what the film is about, you'll probably dislike it intensely.

If you do understand the work, family and personal dynamics you'll probably stick with it and love it by the end despite it being a hard watch.

I do believe Jessica Chastain can take any role, any role at all and turn it into something beautiful.

Main drawback: big chunks of dialogue are muttered so you don't hear what's aid. Watch this film with subtitles or you miss nuances.

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.

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.