Mephistos

Remember Me

By Ray on April 7th, 2010

A few weeks ago I agreed to go see the movie Remember Me with my future (and very soon I might add) wife. She is of course, a major Twilight addict and of course the main attraction was Robert Pattinson (of Edward fame) was playing the lead role in Remember Me. I admit I entered the cinema with low expectations for the film and came away pleasantly surprised.

With out giving away too much, it is important to pay attention to the dates that and time line that develops in the movie. It starts out with specific dates and moves along a few weeks and months from that. I can not really say more on that without giving things away, but it is an important aspect of the movie and really the thing that took me by surprise.

That being said, Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins, a twenty something year old struggling with his own identity. This is compounded by a business tycoon father (played well by Pierce Bronson) who is clearly more involved with business then the family, and older brother whose suicide birthday clearly haunts him as he approaches the birthday, and a much younger sister who has not come to grips with the absent father. The younger sister clearly idolizes Tyler, who in some ways clearly fills the father figure. Despite the special relationship the sister is still distraught whenever the father is absent.

As if that were not enough, during a low point of depression and angst, when just trying to make a difference, Tyler gets into a scuff with some muggers. After trying to make a huge point with a police officer (Chris Cooper), he lands in jail. From there his friend comes up with plan of revenge with the officer’s daughter (played by a fresh-faced Emilie de Ravin, who does an excellent job with the role, welcome change from some of the good looks but can not act typical Hollywood) and Tyler. Of course things get complicated when instead of revenge dating (is that really a concept?) he falls for her for real.

The movie has a few slow moments, but really not that many of them. It is high drama though, so it will not be for everyone. As all the conflicts and identity crisis play through Tyler’s life you get a sense things are probably going to work out pretty good, but there are clearly times when as a member of the audience you just want to shake some of the rest of his family and friends and make them see what they are doing. You will end up totally understanding why he has such a sometimes seemingly lost approach to issues, as that is the only option really left that will allow him to retrain some expression to get the attention needed to that issue.

As much as I would love to say more, that would spoil it. So take my two thumbs up or five stars advice and go see it for yourself. I will even say that the backdrop is New York City, so really if you do not catch it until DVD that is fine too, but you definitely need to see it.

* – image from Remember Me movie promotional materials