Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Remember Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 12, 2011

Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it.

Life is such a tragically short, fragile, and maleable thing, capable of being changed in the blink of an eye -- sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse -- and in an instant forever altering the course of its remaining time. That sudden change goes unseen to most -- the world continues to turn, billions go on with their own on-the-precipice of greatness or disaster existences -- but for a few, a single second, one event, a choice, can turn into a defining event that forever influences days, months, years, decades. Life, death, why they happen, the way the world works as it does, all are mysteries man ponders every day, and with each new event -- the most insignificant step that leads to a hill or a valley in the up-and-down existence that is life -- comes the possibility that something will change, a significant event will occur, love will rise, life will fall, and whether brought about by one's own actions or those of others, lives are forever changed both by the path of one's own footsteps and pure happenstance alike. Remember Me is a Drama about these ups and downs of life, of how it is shaped by personal choice, random chance, and the relationships man forms. It's a difficult picture of blatant honesty about how things work. It doesn't have any answers, but it does offer one thing that may be even more important: hope. Hope in the potential for good to come of the bad, hope that in the wake of tragedy or the bliss of happiness alike, there will be something worth remembering for those who continue on no matter what life has in store next.

Young love.

NYU student Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson, Twilight) has a big heart but a short temper; he's arrested following his participation as a third party in a brawl outside a bar. The arresting officer is Sgt. Neil Craig (Chris Cooper, The Kingdom), a widower and father of NYU student Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin, Operation: Endgame). Tyler's roommate Aidan (Tate Ellington) recognizes the sergeant from the fight as he drops his daughter off at school and persuades Tyler into asking her out. The two immediately hit it off, falling in love and moving in together when Ally's father disapproves of the relationship. Ally becomes like family, supporting Tyler in his struggle to reunite his kid sister and budding art superstar Caroline (Ruby Jerins) with his distant lawyer father, Charles (Pierce Brosnan, The Ghost Writer). Tyler and Ally both share the pains of past tragedy, and their love is built on the understanding that every day is a gift that may suddenly stop giving.

Remember Me is a superb picture about real life, real people, real problems, real relationships, real tragedies, real pains, real dreams, and real healing. It's a picture about making use of whatever time life makes available, to cherish every second, to understand, to feel, to experience, to love. People aren't perfect, and from those imperfections come differences even between those who love one another, but that the love remains even through the worst of times is what really matters and makes life worth living, even when life does all it can to destroy. Life is what each individual makes of it, but it's when people -- families -- come together and build unbreakable bonds that may be stretched but never destroyed can the pains of life be made tolerable, tragic sometimes yes but beaten down through the bonds of love. Remember Me is a life story built on a deep foundation of tragedy but constructed towards the heavens through love. The picture is a tearjerker but also a reminder of not just the fragility of life but the strengths that may be built from experiencing the worst it has to offer, strengths that cannot defeat but that can certainly hold back the anguishes that are a very tragic but very real part of existence.

Even through the story's ups, there's a cloud of impending doom hanging over the movie, a sense that something bad is on the horizon. That's life. Death, tragedy, anger, questions, all of these things are known quantities in life -- they cannot be avoided, no matter how strong one may be, no matter the circumstances in which one exists -- but Director Allen Coulter's (Hollywoodland) picture attempts to put them in perspective by showing very real lives affected by life's very real tragedies and those very real lives somehow going on, facing the bad head-on and not necessarily accepting it, but learning to live with and through it. Murder, suicide, split families, hurt souls, differences of opinion, and more are all introduced through the course of the film, but so too are trust, love, happiness, laughter, comfort, and peace. These contrasts and themes are wonderfully supported by an incredibly strong cast. Robert Pattinson proves he's more than a magazine cover by delivering a steady, honest, and very real performance as a young man with a short fuse but a tender heart that often clash and get him into trouble, but trouble he deems worth suffering through for his actions, noble or foolhardy as they may be. Pierce Brosnan is fantastic as Tyler's distant father, but the show is stolen by the young Ruby Jerins who shows an uncanny command of her character and the delicate emotions that surround her throughout the film.

Remember Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Digitally shot, Remember Me features all the hallmarks of the modern nontraditional method of moviemaking; it's a bit flat and glossy with no real sense of life to it, but the high definition video nonetheless brings out a steady diet of strong details and handsome colors. Facial textures -- though appearing a bit pasty and flat as they are sometimes prone to do -- clothing stitches, and the ratty odds and ends around Tyler's shoddy small apartment are all handled rather well and are nicely revealed throughout. Colors aren't abundantly vibrant, but instead neutral and true, accentuated by good black levels and natural flesh tones. Though there is some intermittent banding and occasional aliasing, the image is fairly handsome and steadily accurate.

Remember Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Remember Me arrives on Blu-ray with a steady but far from memorable DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This is a dialogue-intensive Drama that never really stretches the limits of Blu-ray's audio capabilities, but listeners should be satisfied with the track's ability to handle the picture's sonic material with ease. Music is, as expected, crisp and lifelike across the front, supported by a good low end that cranks up a few notches during a club scene early in the film. Atmospherics are generally handled by the front speakers; sounds of the city, restaurant clatter, and natural ambience in a city park may not completely engulf the listener, but the primary channels handle them with clarity and realism to spare. Rounding out the track is hearty, honest dialogue reproduction.

Remember Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Remember Me arrives on Blu-ray with two commentary tracks and a making-of featurette.

• Audio Commentary: Director Allen Coulter discusses the picture's themes, the film's structure, his shooting techniques, the quality and work of the cast, the purposes of various scenes, filming locations, post-production work, and plenty more. Coulter delivers a rat-a-tat rapid fire sort of track that's incredibly insightful and informative. A must-listen.
• Audio Commentary: Producer Nick Osborne and Actors Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, and Ruby Jerins come together to discuss the picture that was originally entitled Memoirs. This is an informative but more affable, laid-back track compared to the focused director's track. Fans of the cast will want to give this one a listen.
• The Making of Remember Me (1080p, 14:31): Cast and crew speak on the picture's themes, the quality of the script, the assemblage of the cast, the work of the actors, the ending, and more.

Remember Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Remember Me is a strong picture that takes an honest look at the frailty of life and the importance of living it to its fullest each and every day. If there is an ultimate message, it's that one shouldn't wait until tragedy strikes to strengthen the bonds of love or open one's eyes to see what it is they have in life. Life is a fragile, fleeting thing; Remember Me encourages its audience to live like every day is the last, because it may very well be. Strong acting and steady direction complete a wonderful little under-the-radar sort of picture. Summit Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Remember Me features good technical presentations and a trio of quality extras. Recommended.