6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Gordon Dunn, a famed scientific pioneer, is mysteriously found dead just after the unveiling of his newest work, a groundbreaking device able to extract, record and play a person's unfiltered memories. After his death, Gordon's reclusive wife, Carolyn, delves deeper into her own private world when a mysterious man shows up claiming to be from Gordon's past. With questionable motives he takes the machine and uses it to try and solve the mystery, beginning an investigation of memories that lead him down a path of guilt, grief, and betrayal to an unexpected answer.
Starring: Peter Dinklage, Julia Ormond, Anton Yelchin, Henry Ian Cusick, Evelyne BrochuSci-Fi | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
In a way Rememory plays like the flip side to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with memory at the core of a story, though in this case with those remembrances being “extracted” and viewed for supposedly therapeutic purposes, instead of being summarily erased (though erasure does in fact ultimately play a part in the overheated plot dynamics). Rememory has a decent enough premise, even if it’s at least somewhat derivative (bringing older films like 1983’s Brainstorm to mind), but the execution and basic screenwriting is arguably so plodding and perhaps laughable at times that even the committed performance of Peter Dinklage can’t save things. The film begins with Sam Bloom (Peter Dinklage) having a few too many with his brother Dash (Matt Ellis) at the local watering hole. Dash is evidently some kind of major rock star, in just one of several plot points that are never adequately addressed or contextualized, though Dash is not long for the world in any case since the opening sequence ends with a calamitous car accident with another vehicle that leads to the character’s death. The film then segues forward (how far forward is, again, never adequately addressed) to find Sam more or less playing with architectural models, in one of those “WTF?” character beats that is supposedly germane to things, but which just comes off as overly precious. The architectural models, specifically the little human figures that designers place around their buildings to recreate what “scale” will look like, somewhat hilariously do come into play somewhat later in the film once the main conceit is unveiled. That involves scientist Gordon Dunn (Martin Donovan), a therapist who has invented a so-called “Cortex” machine that allows patients to view their memories in order to come to grips with whatever trauma they’re trying to deal with. When Dunn ends up mysteriously dead in his office, Sam ends up investigating, in yet another completely unexplained machination that kind of begs the question as to how and why Sam and Dunn are linked. That linkage is more or less explained in an info dump toward the end of the film, but it’s one of those convenient “coincidences” relied upon too frequently by screenwriters, and even this connection doesn’t adequately explain why exactly Sam is so obsessed with the whole Dunn saga to begin with.
Rememory is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This Arri Alexa captured film has a generally very sharp and well detailed image, though as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, there are either lighting regimens utilized or outright grading in play, often in blue or brown tones, the darkness of which can occasionally tamp down fine detail levels. That said, even some of the darker material often has pretty crisp and at times disturbing detail levels, as in the car crash that takes Dash's life. Some of the "memories", which are projected on a little screen on Dunn's machine, have an intentionally lower res look than the bulk of the film. The palette is on the drab side quite a bit of the time, something that makes little pops of color like the bow on a coffee maker Sam gives to Carolyn look rather vivid by comparison. There are no issues with image instability or compression anomalies.
Rememory features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that has bursts of rather nicely done, and maybe even impressive, immersion in moments like the calamitous wreck early in the film, or some of the (brief) memory montages, times where the surround channels kick into gear and there can even be the occasional thrust and parry of pretty forceful LFE. But the bulk of this film is a pretty talky enterprise, with surround activity limited largely to items like ambient environmental sounds and the film's score. Fidelity is fine throughout, with no problems of any kind.
Without being too churlish, maybe a coinage you hear sometimes on the east coast would be the best response to Rememory: fuhgeddaboutit. That said, Dinklage is interesting in a problematic role, and technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.
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