Opening Day: 18 March 2010

Synopsis:

A moving love story about redemption, discovery and the value of life, REMEMBER ME is the tale of ordinary people learning to live again after suffering extraordinary loss.

Years after college student TYLER ROTH’s brother killed himself, Tyler still doesn’t know where to put his pain. He’s a good guy, but during a night out on the town, he confesses to a misdemeanor he didn’t commit and gets in trouble with a heavy-handed cop. In a lighthearted game of payback, Tyler flirts with the cop’s attractivedaughter, ALLY, not realizing they share unexpected common ground.

When Ally reveals that her mother was brutally murdered, Tyler sees how deeply he has buried his own private grief. He and Ally fall in love, enabling them to take the first tentative steps out of their anguish. Their biggest obstacle is the truth: Tyler knows he has to admit to Ally why he first asked her out—and risk losing her.

Tyler discovers that grief doesn’t have to poison everything. Loss can be overcome, together. Energized by the possibility of a life with Ally and eager to start fresh with his family, Tyler can feel all the rifts and scars beginning to heal. Life is good. He doesn’t know—and neither does she—that one final test still lies before them.

Infused with humor and romance, REMEMBER ME tells an unforgettable story about two wounded people brave enough to try again. Its emotionally stirring ending reminds us just how important it is to grab hold of what’s important, to love passionately – and live loudly – every day of one’s life.

Movie Review:

With the immense success of the Twilight franchise, Edward Cullen, I mean, Robert Pattinson’s shot to fame was like quickfire and now, any other movie which he stars in will no doubt, draw comparisons to the vampire series. While Remember Me is not the only other movie Pattinson has done post-Twilight, this is the only one that has been given a more general release with others being arthouse and indie distributions. At this juncture, this reviewer would like to pause and inform any Twi-hards and members of the R-Pattz fan club that Remember Me is not an extension to Twilight and has nothing to do with vampires.

Playing a character closer to his age this time, Robert Pattinson is Tyler Hawkings, a 21-year old undergraduate who has family problems in life to deal with. He feels that he has to shoulder the responsibility of caring for his family especially for his 11-year old sister after his parents’ separation and his father’s (Pierce Brosnan) seemingly nonchalant attitude towards raising his children. At the crux of it all of course is that the death of his eldest brother, which has, more or less caused the family to be detached from one another. This is intertwined with another plot element whereby Tyler is whacked by Chris Cooper’s police inspector after trying to be a Good Samaritan. His best friend, Aidan (Tate Ellington), soon discovers that Cooper’s character has a daughter, Allie (Emilie De Ravin) and gets Tyler to befriend her, in hopes of gaining justice by dumping her later. Alas, as all love stories go, things are never meant to go as planned.

The good news is that the two key plots are married quite nicely with each other. You will be able to share Tyler’s grief and pain at having to cope with the father who is never around, (For example, he bails out on the family time and time again, on his daughter’s art exhibition night) and in trying to hold the front without disappointing his little sister too much. As mentioned earlier, it is the death of his brother which proves to be the elephant in the room that has rocked their worlds and everyone’s coping in their own ways. This of course leads to a heated encounter between father and son but an incident with the little sister later leads to everyone’s realization. On the other side of the coin, Tyler asks Allie out and soon enough, he starts to fall head over heels with her. As all love stories go, his initial intent is revealed eventually and he tries to win her back, this of course after having introduced her to the whole family.

The acting is generally decent all around without any star-turning performances though I must admit that it has been a while since Pierce Brosnan played a serious role (Mamma Mia! Anyone?) However, the movie does tend to get a little draggy at points and could have been better tightened. If anything, the biggest hoo-ha has to come with the curveball thrown at the end with the movie’s ending which comes off as a twist. While the ending will pull at many people’s heartstrings, this reviewer is still not to certain if it a fitting end to the story. Nonetheless, it sure had me checking if the movie was based on a true story.

Remember Me is not going to be a particularly memorable movie for many years to come but it is a worthy offering at the cinemas for a date or two. Family drama, pretty actors and a crying date, what more could one ask for?

Movie Rating:



(Remember Me should be a fresh whiff of air for Twi-hard fans and a nice date movie for others)

Review by Mohamad Shaifulbahri