Remember Me
0
Posted
March 11, 2010 in
Film
Ally (Emilie de Ravin) and Tyler (Robert Pattinson) meet in the spring and split in the fall. We know they can’t last—the film opens with an ode to the temporary people who permanently affect your life—but also because theirs is the wrenching, all-encompassing young love that always throws itself off the rails. Set in the early ‘aughts, Remember Me is a simple romance for swooners, but screenwriter Will Fetters wins points for noting that two lovers bring with them a clashing mess of family and friends who interfere in major strokes (a la Romeo and Juliet) but also in the subtle, common inheritances in how we connect, fight and protect ourselves. De Ravin and Pattinson’s deepest point of connection is that she’s lost a mom, and he, a brother. But on the surface, they’re just two incredibly good-looking kids shocked at their good fortune. As always, it’s fun to watch Pattinson’s goofy efforts to disguise his teen idol appeal with awkward gestures and proto-crazy man mumbles, especially when even the screenplay isn’t fooled—roommate Tate Ellington wants to run a business selling toothbrushes to the one-night ladies who wake up in his bed. Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan have strong turns playing the couple’s very different dads, both lions who love control. (Brosnan, one hopes, is starting to make use of the vacuum Alec Baldwin left when he went comedy.) Lena Olin doesn’t get much of a chance to register as Pattinson’s posh mom—the big reveal is de Ravin, a young talent with a tomboy charm and great inner strength. But the nicest angle is how much time director Allen Coulter (a TV-man making his film debut) devotes to Pattinson’s love for elementary school sister Ruby Jerins, an awkward, artistic girl who suspects (rightly) that her Manhattan prep school classmates think she’s a freak. The Twilight hunk still doesn’t seem at ease helming a big romance, but his scenes with Jerins have a sweet, credible confidence—ladyfriends aside, this is one girl he’ll fight for at all cost.
0
Posted
March 11, 2010 in
Film
Ally (Emilie de Ravin) and Tyler (Robert Pattinson) meet in the spring and split in the fall. We know they can’t last—the film opens with an ode to the temporary people who permanently affect your life—but also because theirs is the wrenching, all-encompassing young love that always throws itself off the rails. Set in the early ‘aughts, Remember Me is a simple romance for swooners, but screenwriter Will Fetters wins points for noting that two lovers bring with them a clashing mess of family and friends who interfere in major strokes (a la Romeo and Juliet) but also in the subtle, common inheritances in how we connect, fight and protect ourselves. De Ravin and Pattinson’s deepest point of connection is that she’s lost a mom, and he, a brother. But on the surface, they’re just two incredibly good-looking kids shocked at their good fortune. As always, it’s fun to watch Pattinson’s goofy efforts to disguise his teen idol appeal with awkward gestures and proto-crazy man mumbles, especially when even the screenplay isn’t fooled—roommate Tate Ellington wants to run a business selling toothbrushes to the one-night ladies who wake up in his bed. Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan have strong turns playing the couple’s very different dads, both lions who love control. (Brosnan, one hopes, is starting to make use of the vacuum Alec Baldwin left when he went comedy.) Lena Olin doesn’t get much of a chance to register as Pattinson’s posh mom—the big reveal is de Ravin, a young talent with a tomboy charm and great inner strength. But the nicest angle is how much time director Allen Coulter (a TV-man making his film debut) devotes to Pattinson’s love for elementary school sister Ruby Jerins, an awkward, artistic girl who suspects (rightly) that her Manhattan prep school classmates think she’s a freak. The Twilight hunk still doesn’t seem at ease helming a big romance, but his scenes with Jerins have a sweet, credible confidence—ladyfriends aside, this is one girl he’ll fight for at all cost.
