Last weekend I watched the movie "Remember Me". This would have been the last movie in the multiplex that I would have chosen, as I had already pigeon holed it as a "chick flick". This based solely on the movies poster I had seen showing Robert Pattinson with the pretty co-star Emilie De Ravin. But as my wife has totally bought into the Vampire movies that have brought Mr. Pattinson some amount of notoriety, I caved into suffering through another chick flick.
I was pleasantly surprised that the movie was quite a bit more than I expected. The movie was more about families, and the emotional harm that horrible past events can have on those who survive. There is also a theme dealing with how fathers, despite what they may feel is their best efforts at caring for their family can often be damaging. And it is also about hope that through all the turmoil of relationships between family, friends and loved ones, that at times people can eventually see the light and make a decision that will have a positive impact on their family, friends and loved ones. And yes.... there was a love story.
I guess this movie is also a period piece, as it is set in the not to distant past. I always like to quickly determine the time period of a movie as well as the setting. It was pretty easy to determine that the setting was in New York, and I was presuming that the time setting was present day. It was not until fairly well into the movie that I was able to determine that the movie was actually set about a decade back as I heard in the background of one scene a news story with President George W. Bush speaking. It lasted only a couple seconds. I would bet than many movie viewers missed this little bit a background noise, but I was left wondering what was the significance of this bit of information? I felt that it was placed there for some reason. As my wife had missed that bit of info, so she was quite taken aback with the final conclusion of the movie bringing in the event of 9/11.
Now I read a few other "Remember Me" movie reviews prior to writing this review. Some felt that the 9/11 ending was a cheap way to end the movie.. Kind of like, "hey... if the main character has to die in the end of the movie, why not have him simply get hit by a bus?". Some felt the movie used this ending to pull at some emotional strings. But I think that they missed an important message in the movie.
Pattinson's character mentioned words that his now deceased brother had passed on to him A famous quote from Gandhi. Gandhi said that "whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." Pattinson's character stated "I tend to agree with the first part".
In the end, the life and actions of Pattinson's character, that were viewed by his father friends and family as a waste, were in the end efficacious in bringing about changes in the the actions of his friends and family to make changes for the good in their own lives. The fact that it was the 9/11 event that took out Pattinson's character played into the Gandhi quote in that in the grand scheme of things, whatever we do is insignificant. We will all be dispatched from this world at some point, as nobody gets out alive. Thus no matter our standing or vocation in life, we should do as Gandhi said, no matter how insignificant our life may seem, it is important that we do it.
This was a nice diversion from the Vampire stuff of Pattinson's. It seems we are up to our necks with Vampires right now and this certainly gave Pattinson a chance to show he has more range than what the Vampire Series is providing.
Great supporting cast with Pierce Brosnan, and Chris Cooper.
Movie Review by Mike Kelsey
