Sundance ’17: Rememory

Without our memories, we wouldn’t have our guilt, jealousy, and resentments—all the stuff that makes us human. It would seem the messy combination above also contributed to the death of noted memory specialist Dr. Gordon Dunn. Unfortunately, Dunn’s new game-changing invention is also missing, prompting the mysterious Sam Bloom to conduct his own investigation in Mark Palansky’s Rememory (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

It is not clear whether Bloom really was a friend of Dunn’s or if he simply hoping the Macguffin device would help him process his emotional issues. Clearly, Bloom blames himself for the death of his rock-star brother, because he was behind the wheel at the time of the fatal accident. This looks like a perfect case for Dunn’s treatment. His invention records and plays back memory with flawless accuracy, stripping away the distortions we layer on over the years. According to Dunn, viewing painful memories in this fashion is cathartic, but at least one disgruntled patient vehemently begs to differ. As a further complication, Dunn had begun tweaking his device after documenting a number of unfortunate side effects.

Of course, the agitated Todd is seen furtively leaving Dunn’s office on the fateful night in question. So is his spurned lover Wendy, who is also rather disappointed Dunn used a number of her emotionally charged memories in his Steve Jobs-style product launch, without prior permission. Tracking down the memory VCR would certainly help Bloom crack the case, but it might not necessarily cure what ails him.

It is hard to explain why, but Rememory does not feel like a Sundance film. It is built around an intriguing premise, but Palansky never delves too deeply into issues of memory and identity. Nevertheless, the noir style is quite appealing. Game of Thrones fans will also be happy to hear Peter Dinklage is terrific as Bloom. It is a moody but understated turn that proves he can carry a film. His scenes with Julia Ormond playing Dunn’s slightly estranged widow are especially rich and laden with complicated chemistry. The late Anton Yelchin (who had two films at Sundance this year) is also twitchy and jangly, like a raw nerve ending, as poor desperate Todd. Plus, Martin Donovan is perfectly cast as the smooth-talking Dunn, but unfortunately there is no opportunity for a proper scene with him and Dinklage together.

Rememory is a reasonably entertaining film, but it is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. Regardless, it is a pleasure to watch pros like Dinklage and Ormond do their thing. Sadly, it also takes on additional irony as one of Yelchin’s final films that happens to be all about memory and grief. Recommended overall for fans of social-psychological science fiction, Rememory screens again tomorrow (1/28) at Sundance Mountain Resort and Sunday (1/29) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Martin Donovan’s Collaborator

If you are ever taken hostage, start doing acting exercises.  Anyone that annoying is sure to be quickly released.  It does not quite work that way for snobby leftwing playwright Robert Longfellow, but it is debatable just how much danger his captor really represents in Martin Donovan’s directorial debut and star vehicle, Collaborator (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York at the IFC Center.

Smarting from the critical drubbing unleashed on his latest play (the appropriately pretentious sounding American Excursion), Longfellow left New York and his ever patient wife to visit his aging mother.  As luck would have it, he is also able to re-connect with his former romantic interest, Hollywood actress Emma Stiles.  His childhood acquaintance still living across the street also wants to hang.  One of those right-wing ex-cons, Gus Williams has not made good.  In trouble with the law again, Williams shows up with a gun and a shopping bag full of beers.  Thus begins Longfellow’s hostage ordeal.

Donovan might have been Hal Hartley’s bro-muse in all those great 1990’s indies, but as a director-screenwriter he does not exhibit a natural talent for pacing or characterization.  While he deserves credit for his relatively sympathetic treatment of Williams, we never really believe the hostage-taker would pull the trigger, at least with Longfellow on the receiving end.  As a result, instead of a taut cat-and-mouse game, the deliberately stagey and static Collaborator feels more like forty-plus minutes of extended endgame, grinding along laboriously.

In lieu of plot progression, Longfellow engages Williams in a series of actors’ improvs designed to show the intellectual superiority of a New York elitist to the bitter red-stater.  Yet, the truth is both characters are just talking in clichés when they debate hot-button issues, such as the Viet Nam War.  This is all supposed to reveal the fundamental essences of their psyches, but it really just leaves viewers shrugging, so what then?

Frankly, Donovan’s emotional frozen Longfellow, as well as David Morse’s wounded, anti-social Williams are only too familiar, following predictable development arcs.  We have seen similar from both of them before.  However, Olivia Williams has some intriguing moments as Stiles.  Ironically in Collaborator, the movie star is the most human character of the lot.

While the premise of Collaborator had potential, the execution never really clicks.  There are some well turned moments here and there, especially from Ms. Williams, but it is clearly the product of an insular environment, much to its detriment.  Highly skippable, Collaborator opens this Friday (7/6) in New York at the IFC Center.