Lionsgate’s: REMEMORY

by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

I was sent another screener by Lionsgate, this time for a Sci-Fi Mystery called Rememory starring Peter Dinklage, best known as Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. Writer/director Mark Palansky (co-writer Michael Vukadinovich) wrote this movie with Dinklage in mind, having nothing to do with his size, other than the size of his talent – discovered after working together on Palansky’s first movie Penelope (2006) which also starred Christina Ricci, James McAvoy & Reese Witherspoon. I’m not familiar with this movie at all, but it’s BTT (before Tinsel & Tine) so I wasn’t as plugged in.

In Rememory Dinklage just plays a loner type guy trying to live with a tragic happening from his past. Although, ironically, his profession is that of an architectural-model builder, so he builds miniature buildings, people and objects. And there’s a scene where he grabs his brother’s keys and says I’m driving, but it’s his brother’s car – I would imagine Peter Dinklage or anyone of that size has to have a specially made car to be able to drive. Still, I applaud the fact that no mention is made of his dwarfism, it’s simple, non-traditional casting.

“My character is a man dealing with dark demons yet has a humanity and empathy that helps
him untangle what happened to Dr. Dunn. I’m such a fan of film noir and mysteries and all of that – ones that are done well – and I love how this
character didn’t sign up to solve a mystery, he’s put in this situation,” – Peter Dinklage

The movie is actually about a scientist, Dr. Dunn (Martin Donovan) who creates a machine that can invade a person’s mind and extract memories that can be seen on the machine’s tiny screen. Not sure why the screen is longer, but thinner than an average cellphone.You’d think if you get to actually see your memories, you’d wanna view them on something at least the size of an iPad. Although, during the Apple Tech type demonstration in front of an audience, the memories are projected on to a big screen. I also had trouble with the way the memories are extracted; just by attaching headphones to the machine and placing them on a person’s temples. I feel like the extraction method should have been more invasive.

Nevertheless, the ideas is that our memories are unreliable, that the more we go over them and tell their story, the more they become distorted and muddied over time. Yet, our memories often have a way of haunting and trapping us, preventing many from moving on. And sometimes, just the opposite, a memory is so good you want to hold onto it forever. Either way, this Dr. Dunn feels being able to truly look at a memory again exactly how it happened, every nuance, sound and expression on someone’s face could be a beneficial tool in psychology and therapy. The problem being, it has just the opposite effect on his trial patients, it causes hallucinations and loss of time, one of his patients feels violated having her memories on display. Most importantly, he doesn’t take into account, our minds fade memories for a reason, to protect us.

“Rememory” quickly slides away from being sci-fi and delves into a whodunit after Dr. Dunn is found dead in his office, and the machine goes missing, all shortly before the corporation who has patented the memory machine is about to go public.

The film also feature Anton Yelchin in a posthumous role. Still hard to believe that he was literally struck down as his career was building.

Julia Ormand plays Dr. Dunn’s widow. Her scenes with Peter Dinklage’s character becoming friends are very compelling, although based on a lot of omission on his part.

“The film’s concept of how people are changed by their
past despite the amorphous quality of memory is tantalizingly, and fascinatingly organic to being human.” – Julia Ormand

Bottom Line: What makes Dinklage so good in Game of Thrones is exactly why he’s very good in this movie, and that is, he plays complexity very well; neither hero nor villain. I also admire the fact that the film deals with a high concept, futuristic plot device, yet finds a way of seeming out of time. Is it the past, present or future? Like memory itself it’s undefined.