Movie review: Memory

Double feature! Both for me in terms of watching movies, and for the reviews on this blog. I think Memory (being a more typical movie) worked well as a palate cleanser after Post Tenebras Lux, which was rather experimental, abstract and somewhat incomprehensible. 

This is a movie that Peter Sarsgaard was in, so this post is going to be more relevant to the stated description of this blog. Earlier this year, it was playing in a couple of movie theaters, but it was not widely screened. I never managed to drag myself out to see it in one of the theaters it was showing in, specifically at one of the open-captioned showings. It is a more independent film but it's not extremely esoteric and experimental. 

Anyways, I watched it (with captions, how luxurious) in the comfort and privacy of my own home. The premise of this movie is about a man (Saul, portrayed by Peter Sarsgaard) with early dementia and his relationship with a woman (Sylvia, portrayed by Jessica Chastain) he meets after following her home from a party one night. Sylvia is a social worker, as well as a single mother. I don't think it was specified how she ended up as a single mother, but in any case, her daughter is 13.

The movie had more layers and elements than I was initially expecting. In addition to the part about Saul having dementia (and therefore memory problems), there are other topics involving parenting, caregiving for adults who cannot fully take care of themselves, contentious family relationships and past trauma that the movie explores to some extent.    

It is fairly brief, clocking in at 99 minutes long, so some of the key scenes are tightly scripted and don't belabor their points. There wasn't any part where I thought things were getting slow. I thought the ending was somewhat abrupt and that the movie could have extended further to continue the plot a bit more. I did also wish that Peter Sarsgaard had some more scenes that were a bit meatier, where he could really express a bit more depth, emotion and intensity, because that is what he excels at.  

Overall, I enjoyed it and probably wouldn't have regretted seeing it in a theater had I been able to do so. Peter Sarsgaard co-stars in this movie, but the movie is somewhat more centered on Sylvia, Jessica Chastain's character. The song A Whiter Shade of Pale is heard in one of the scenes briefly and later used as background music the credits, which was mildly interesting to me because I remember (from a long time ago, relatively speaking) this song being used in the soundtrack of an episode of House M.D.