Remember Me (2010)

For those of you who have faithfully followed my film critiques, you might be aware of my struggles with un-bias and giving credit where it is due to certain genres and film styles. Styles that in my pre-critic life I would not have taken a liking to. I felt like I was making wonderful progess in this plight after seeing and giving reviews on certain movies with no favoritism whatsoever. Well, if I made it over a hump with those previous films, then this one surely puts me over the mountain. Remember Me easily fits into the romance-drama category. A category that, although I do possess a “hopeless romantic” side, I don’t usually find myself enthralled in a story that fits within this class of film. Somehow, someway I found myself doing just that with this movie.

The story begins in a part of Brooklyn, NY; which I am very proud to say is my hometown, born and raised. However, the story also begins in tragedy. One of our main characters, Ally (Emilie de Ravin), witnesses firsthand the death of her mother at a very young age. This leaves her father, Neil (Chris Cooper), an NYPD police officer, to raise her alone. Fast forwarding to the future, Ally now attends college in New York City and still lives with her very protective father. Unbeknownst to her, she shares a class with Tyler (Robert Pattison), who also has his own family demons.

Pierce Brosnan plays Tyler’s father, Charles, who the audience can immediately tell from the very first interaction between the two that they do not have a relationship that you would see on an episode of Full House. Having also experienced personal loss, the emotional struggles that he and his family deal with present the thought that some deeper issues obviously lie within their framework. After a not so chance first meeting between Tyler and Ally, they begin to date and start a romance, each of them bringing their own hidden issues along for the ride.

We all must admit what we thought when we heard the teenage vampire heartthrob from the Twilight Saga was including himself in a film that had nothing to do with wolves or protecting young girls from being eaten by his family’s arch nemesis. Well, at least I thought it was going to be another bore. I will be the first to admit that I was considerably wrong. Never judge a movie by its trailer.

The two main characters, Ally and Tyler, are played by actors who were born in Australia and England respectively but certainly nail their parts in playing two Americans from New York. No heavy N.Y.C. accents in this one, they were not needed. The portrayal of two young adults who have both gone through patches in their life which can be considered to be slightly more than just rough ones were very realistic and believable. I don’t think it matters who you are, where you’re from or what you’ve been through in your life, you will probably be able to relate to them on some level by story’s end.

Robert Pattison truly surprised me with a complete performance which to me seemed like he completely threw himself into the part in order to make it work. Completely stepping away from his alter-vampire-ego, he tackles real life issues and problems that many of us may be going through right now.

Furthermore, all of us have either had or encountered parents like the two of them have. One is very protective and trying to do best he can contesting with a young woman in her early twenties as a daughter. While the other, although abrasive and cold at times, deep down truly cares and loves his family but is having a rough time expressing this to them. Veteran actors Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan contribute exactly what is needed in their roles as part of the supporting cast.

Directed by Allen Coulter while written by Will Fetters, the story is not your typical mushy romance. These are real people dealing with real issues in their lives and have finally found someone they feel they can share their minds and emotions with. I feel by the way it was written, it was clearly meant to speak to the audience and not just simply entertain. Although, it did present some slow moments that can lose your attention for a bit, you can still almost feel every good, bad and uncertainty of a moment that the characters go though.

Something else that is not very easy for me to admit is that this is the very first movie that actually had me tearing up by the end. Notice I said tearing up, not crying. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but just that it didn’t happen to me, ok. Now, being more specific, the film connected with me on a very personal level due to the powerful yet possibly controversial climax. A climax that reminded me of a time when I nearly lost someone very special to me. A climax that literally compelled me to notify this person when the film was over and remind them of their worth to me. My father. So, you see the tearing up was warranted.

This film was recommended to me by a good friend of mine who also is not into romances but wanted to hear my opinion about it. This is also the first film that I felt compelled enough to write down my thoughts immediately after it ended. In conclusion, once again I am not partial to romance dramas and I still do not feel as though I am. But this film assisted me in completely getting over my biases as well as appreciate the other genres for the same reason I appreciate my favorite ones; to allow the audience to lose themselves in a visual story and to simply entertain. I give Remember Me “4 reasons to never take anyone in your life for granted out of 5”.

“Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it. Because nobody else will. Like when someone comes into your life and half of you says you're nowhere near ready, but the other half says: make her yours forever.”