Remember

I began watching Remember with no great expectations; I thought I'd watch the first 20 minutes or so, and if it seemed promising, I'd come back to it at a later time perhaps.

You will already be aware of the plot/story-line from other reviews etc...; but for those who have not yet seen it, it has a beautiful way of drawing you in somehow. Beautifully written, yet powerful; I found I was becoming so immersed in the movie that there would be no 'coming back to it later'.

Casting and acting are excellent all-round, in what turned out to be perhaps one of the best films I've seen over the past 18 months or so.

There's very little else I can say regarding the film other than 'watch it'... it's excellent.

9/10

This film tells the story of a holocaust survivor who now has dementia and lives in a nursing home in the USA. With the encouragement from another holocaust survivor, he sets out on a trip to hunt down their tormentors.

I expected "Remember" to be touching, but I have not expected it to be so completely powerful. It tells the sad life of an old man struggling with basic daily life because of his dementia. Then, it tells a heart wrenching story of revenge seeking. It is already a captivating story, but the story only gets better. The ending is something of a shock which leaves me literally paralysed with emotions. It leaves my brain frantically feeling the emotions of the various characters in the film, especially Zeb's and the other guy in the nursing home. The story astounds me, leaves me with tingles in my head for many minutes after the film ends. I'm made speechless by the intensity of the story. And the even more amazing thing is that the story is very believable, to the point that it could happen to anyone of the elderly generation.

I think "Remember" is a must see for everyone. Make time to find it and watch it!

Remember is indeed an exceptionally good solid movie, I have to thank IMDb reviewers for pointing it out, I could have easily missed this one, cerebral thrillers are sometimes difficult to watch for me and most often than not satisfaction for the viewer is scarce.

In a society that is constantly becoming older, elder citizens are becoming more and more a part of our social experience and (hopefully) old age will be a much greater part of our own lifetime in the future. Unfortunately memory loss and mental faculties degeneration is a growing threat directly to us or indirectly through our loved ones. Since it's not "cool" this pressing theme is often ignored in movies. Remember makes the best out of it in a surprisingly immersive movie.

The protagonist will fight increasingly daunting external threats and difficulties in his hunt for the enemy/nemesis that has become the unique and last purpose of his life. But that's only half of the story, the hero's physical flaws and internal struggle with his own dysfunctional brain is a whole added yet perfectly merged battleground in which he has to fight his own self.

Depicting such an epic struggle in an immersive storytelling is a massive victory for the script and the actors, no shortcuts taken there, everyone delivers and the protagonist gives a top performance. Photography and music constantly enhance the story but thanks to a superb directing and competent production all the factors involved are smoothly united towards an almost perfect product.

I'd caution people to not read any of these reviews that contain spoilers, because they will rob you of a captivating movie experience. This is one movie, believe me, where you do not want to know how it comes out until the movie itself has a chance to tell its tale, much Like "Crying Game" some years ago. I cannot understand people who do this, self-appointed film "experts" who have decided that you do not deserve to let the movie speak for itself. They're like people who blab about surprise parties, or who say "Now watch this!" loudly in a theater. This movie is as well-written and directed as anything you're likely to see this year, and to know too much beforehand robs you of a rare cinematic experience.

Greetings again from the darkness. Earlier this year, 81 year old Maggie Smith impressed with her lead role in The Lady in the Van. And now, just a few weeks later, comes 86 year old Christopher Plummer in a gut-wrenching performance as Zev Guttman, a 90 year old German grieving widower suffering from dementia. Don't let that description fool you … Zev goes on a cross-continent road trip with a mission of seeking justice against the Auschwitz guard who killed his family more than 70 years ago.

Zev lives in a nursing home and often can't remember to wear shoes, much less that his beloved wife Ruth has passed away. It turns out another resident/patient at the home shares a history at Auschwitz with him. Wheelchair-bound Max (Martin Landau) says the two men are the last surviving members of their cell block, and must work together to find the guard – now living under the assumed name of Rudy Kurlander – and find justice for their families. So we find ourselves with a coalition of sympathetic senior citizen Nazi hunters.

Given the war atrocities, it makes sense that over the years, many movies have placed Nazi hunting as a core theme. Among the most well known are: The Odessa File (1974), Marathon Man (1976), The Boys from Brazil (1978), Inglourious Bastards (2009), and The Debt (2010). But leave it to director Atom Egoyan (Ararat, Where the Truth Lies) to find a different spin and a twist on a familiar theme. At times, Zev's dementia distracts us from his vengeful mission, while at various other times, the innocence of children acts as a dual reminder – the fragility of old age vs. the eye-for-eye brutality.

It's Landau's Max who acts as a type of narrative structure for the story. His sharp and focused plan is written out in letter form so that Zev can constantly refer and be reminded of his purpose. The letter also provides us viewers with the necessary back-story to fully comprehend the what's and why's. Each time Zev re-reads the letter, he re-experiences the loss of his wife – yet another of the film's reminders of the effects of dementia.

Zev's search takes him from Ohio to Canada to Idaho to Lake Tahoe. He goes through four Rudy Kurlanders – with Bruno Ganz (Downfall, 2004) and Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot (1981) representing two. There is also a very uncomfortable sequence involving Dean Norris ("Breaking Bad") which reminds that hatred is often passed down through generations.

The nursing home "getaway" and the purchase of a gun have us thinking Zev is some type of senior citizen Jason Bourne – sharing the lack of memory, but none of the skills. The title of "Remember" has many meanings and interpretations here, not the least of which is as a display of loss, guilt, revenge, family and old age. Even the most poignant moment of the film occurs when Zev says "I remember".