Memoria

In "Memoria" Tilda Swinton plays Jessica Holland, an expat woman from Scotland who lives in Medellín and is in the market-gardening business. One night, Jessica is awoken from a sleep by a strange bang, like a sonic boom. This is the long version of the movie. The short version is "what did I just watch?" If they had made a short movie (35 minutes), you would still ask the same question. This is by far the slowest movie I have ever seen and then having to admit I still did not understand the plot? Or was there no plot? Was there even a movie? So many questions that might never be answered. This movie left me behind feeling very frustrated. It might have been a masterpiece or just the opposite. But if I have to stare at trees, roads, the sky etc for at least 75% of the movie, I fall asleep. There is one thing that is very good about this movie, and that is the always wonderful acting Tilda. Without her, this movie would not even exist. This is the trick, use Tilda and some people might actually come and see the movie of my twisted "Memoria". And the only good scene was when Jessica was visiting the doctor. She was trying to ask Xanax but had to struggle to get a prescription because Xanax is addictive! And this is happening in Medellin, once the cocaine capital of the world...

To me this is the main issue with Memoria. For example, the IMDB question about spoilers is not even needed, there can be basically no spoilers when reviewing this film, since the "narrative" (can't really call it that) is fragmented and merely the pretext for the reflections the movie undertakes on several clever memory-related topics (notably the reality of recollection), from the simple perspective of the experiences concerning a single human individual, to the collective thoughts of a society as a whole. In that vein the characters and some movie conventions (the classical journey of the main character, although we are never sure what it exactly is) are used as a sort of vessels.

As long as that is accepted I found that most of my criticism (which would put me firmly on the side of "bad" reviewers) fell off the wayside, and I enjoyed this beautifully shot contemplative piece for what it was.

But why didn't I rate it higher? Frankly because I was underwhelmed with the meditation itself or the tropes enveloping it (as I saw them), finding some of them trite and even ridiculous. Meditation around different issues comes also from some sort of familiarity, and I was not convinced that the filmmaker was not merely a tourist in this universe, rather than someone with a particularly deep insight.

This sort of approach is, of course, totally acceptable, just not something I could relate to here, as I could in other films he has done. And thus issues such the length of the film (as well as some of the sequences) became a problem, which would not have been the case had I felt fully in sync with the piece.

Maybe this movie was to overhyped for me, but it probably is the biggest disappointment of 2021 for me.

The concept was ambitious, but the movie still cant decide what it wants to be and in the last 10mins it completely shifts its genre, which was just to much...

Tilda Swinton is brilliant in it, no doubt, but this plot, that gets dragged out more and more (and I usually love slow paced movies, but that was even to much for me) simply doesnt help itself. It reminded me a bit of LOST at times, where it mysteriously opens up a loooot of questions but never answers any of those.... or you could say... "it leaves it up for interpretation". A second viewing would certainly help you to understand those connections better, but I cant make myself endure this another time.

Its such a shame that this amazing idea has not been executed much more smoothly.

This movie is only for the eyes of a few people. To those eyes, it offers many answers, inspiration, and a lot of insight - to the latter it will look like total rubbish. I understand and respect this. However, this movie was fascinating for me. It requires a great amount of patience and total attention - and a base knowledge of buddhism helps a lot with many symbols scattered around the movie. It is something that needs you to focus with an open mind - because it has nothing to do with a story, a plot, it rather gives you the chance to observe a very subtle reality often ignored. Not with a storyline, but a chain of circumstances which may look meaningless or unimportant if you don't look close enough. Sounds were used brilliantly, and the whole movie made me feel there was nothing decorative, all scenes, and little things, and pauses were there only because they were absolutely necessary to deliver the message. It was more like a meditation. This one provided me so many unexpected answers and spiritual inspiration, and I'm sure I'll be thinking about it and 'feeling' it for a while.

So, this film is artistic AF. It has all of what most people who enjoy film dont like ( including myself) but it is an spiritual retreat. So i would suggest that you get a nice wine, sit comfortable in front of a big screen with good sound and enjoy a very slow visual artistic film. That in general. I also recommend to watch it alone, i think it is a very private film, and you will enjoy better when you can fully inmerse.

The director challenges the viewer the whole first part of the film, but preparing you for the next. Needs to bring you heart rate very low, and you will feel how time stops at some point. You will forget about outside world in the second part. Its not a film to entertaind, its more like a trip to the jungle , find a shaman, try ayahuasca and come back to normal life. Seems surreal, makes you wonder... Personally i was not prepared properly to watch this film, but i enjoyed it because i am also a photographer so i was enjoying every static frame. There is craft on this film, technically stunning.