Welcome to A-Z Movie Reviews. Every Sunday, for the next several months, I will be posting a review of a film in my home movie collection. How it works is, I will be reviewing movies in alphabetical order until I get to the letter Z (Yes, I do have a film that ends in Z). Now I realize there are many ways to alphabetize a film collection, but this is mine so don’t judge me. This is simply for fun.
For this installment of A-Z Movie Reviews, we’re going down the sad road again. It’s been awhile since I reviewed a sad movie and Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson is definitely a sad one.
What it’s about:
A romantic drama centered on two new lovers: Tyler (Pattinson), whose parents have split in the wake of his brother’s suicide, and Ally (Emilie de Ravin), who lives each day to the fullest since witnessing her mother’s murder.
So you see, just from the blurb alone you can see how sad this movie is. Although it’s a sad film, it is one of my favorites.
Tyler is still trying to deal with the loss of his brother Michael who killed himself at the age of 22. What makes it harder for Tyler is that his own birthday is coming up and he feels this sense of dread. He’s basically just going through the motions.
He goes to classes, works, and lives in his own apartment with his friend Aidan (Tate Ellington). Tyler comes from a very well-to-do family but he doesn’t want to depend on anyone especially his father Charles (Pierce Brosnan).
It’s clear Tyler blames his father for Michaels suicide. Michael was a free spirit who had aspirations of becoming a musician but Charles was adamant that wasn’t the path. Because of Michaels inability to make a living from being a musician, he had to put that dream on the back burner and go to work for his dad.
Tyler does not want to go down that same road. He has years of resentment bottle up inside because Charles has never truly been the father he wants him to be. Tyler and his little sister Caroline (Ruby Jerins), are the only ones left and all they want is for their father to see them and love them. Caroline stays to herself while Tyler lashes out. He’s hurting and he can’t figure out how to move on.
Ally, is a bit of a different story. After losing her mother as a little girl, in her adult life, she’s all about living within the moment but it’s to a point that it is holding her back a bit. She does things like eating desert first because she’s afraid that something could happen that could cause her to lose out on having what she truly wanted. Her biggest hurdle is that she will not take the New York subway.
Because her mother was murdered while they were waiting for the Subway, she’s never taken it again. Her dad drives her all the way from Queens to NYU where she goes to school. If she goes anywhere else, no matter how far, she takes a cab. Ally thinks she’s living her life the way she wants but in reality she is just as controlled by her traumas as Tyler is. Unlike Tyler, Ally’s relationship with her dad Neil (Chris Cooper), is closer. The only problem is he’s so overprotective that he can’t let her go enough to have her own life.
The meeting between Tyler and Ally is not a very conventional one. After Tyler has a run-in with her dad who is a Police Sergeant, and ends up arrested, Aidan talks him into a bet to hook up with Ally to get back at him. Tyler is not really into the idea but for some reason he does it. He initially doesn’t expect to start having the kind of feelings he does for Ally but, when he realizes just how broken they both are, they start to bond.
What I love about Remember Me is that it is a film about so many things. It’s a movie about first love, lost love, and finding peace. This film is such a real story because it’s just two families dealing with issues like anyone else. There’s an unexpected twist in this story that I just can’t bring myself to write about here because in my opinion it would ruin the film. I feel that you have to truly immerse yourself in Tyler and Ally’s lives because this is such a great film.
Robert Pattinson is absolutely amazing in Remember Me and it’s another film that showcases what an incredibly talented actor he is. Like his onscreen father Pierce Brosnan said, Rob has a “very watchable, likable intensity.” I can never take my eyes of of Robert Pattinson when I watch his films anyway but, in Remember Me, it’s just different and I fall in love with him every time I watch it.
You’re going to laugh, you’re going to be mad, you’re going to probably ugly cry. But most importantly, you will look at, and appreciate life in an entirely different way.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
Remember Me is available to stream on Netflix.