Memory

"Memory" Movie Review.

This 2023 film is as depressing as it is uplifting. Directed by Michel Franco and the pace is never fast and the viewer needs to pay attention to the little details that are key to the plot. It is more like a foreign film then an American one in that scenes don't necessarily blend into one another, but their relevancy is germane.  

 Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard are damaged people. How they come about is through an old high school reunion. Sylvia (Chastain) has a young, likeable daughter in Brooke Timber. We never know who the father is here, but Anna is precocious and thoughtful. Sylvia is highly protective of her daughter and as the movie unfolds we know why that is.

 The writer is daring you to make assumptions about the characters. The more we try to figure out each actor, the more we get surprised about each of them. Franco lets us see the depravity in the two main characters. Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) suffers from dementia. The writing gives us a little look into his life, but not to much. When we get surprised by Saul, he let's us down, but not in a bad way. Franco forces us to watch their lives unfold even though we don't necessarily want to. 

 The movie takes place in a Jewish section of Brooklyn. The people are secular, religion never really plays a factor here, but the names of the people are given to us as an underlie to who they were and where they came from. The people never get emotional, never raise their voices, the just plod along trying to help each other when they can; they try to survive the rigors of living. 

 "Memory" is never a warm movie, it's just a raw picture about real people in a real world. The directing is subdued, always. There are no outward emotions of love or warmth. The characters live the best lives that they can. Silvia has distanced herself from her parents and protects her daughter from them as well. Peter lives with his brother and his brothers daughter. His dementia wavers in and out. There are times when he is present and other times that he doesn't remember anything.

How Silvia and Peter meet is at a high school reunion. Even the reunion is downplayed, people are just there in the scene; no overjoy, no loud music, no loud back slapping people, just people who are basically surviving in the moment. This scene was brilliantly shot by the director. Peter likes Silvia, but the way he goes about liking her is earry. Silvia is bitter about her youth and just sits by herself throughout the reunion. As we learn later, her youth was taken from her at a very young age.

Chastain who has proven herself both on the big screen as well as Broadway (Dolls House) plays her role brilliantly. She never smiles for the most part because there is not a lot to smile about. She keeps a tight rain on her daughter and her surroundings; evident in how she repetitively sets her apartment alarm every-time she enters her apartment. She doesn't trust people, especially men."Memory" brilliantly looks into each main characters life as the time passes on the screen. Saul at some point must have been successful as evidenced in one line that he said to his brother, Issac (Josh Charles). The writer, however, never tells us anything about Saul, nor anything about any of the other characters except Silvia. We need to know about Silvia because that is where the movie lies. 

 As a different kind of film, "Memory" is worth the watch. Even though the characters are defeated for the most part, their lives are never positive, it is worth the watch for both the acting, the writing, the cinematography, and the foreign film like genre; almost a film Noir.

Peter Sarsgaard, Jessica Chastin,