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Post by Ace on Mar 16, 2010 19:49:44 GMT -5
Interesting interview with screenwriter Will Fetters and his reaction to the criticism www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/reacting-to-remember-me-an-interview-with-screenwriter-will-fettersNOTE: This interview contains story details that will spoil the ending of Remember Me. If you have not seen it yet, not only do I urge you to head to the theater, but you also may want to skip reading this interview until you have. Anyone that read my review of Remember Me already knows I enjoyed it, and was one of the select few. In fact, I have strong opinions of the film, not from the perspective of how great the acting is or whether director Allen Coulter turned in a tour de force bit of filmmaking navigation, but merely at the idea behind the film and its intentions. However, it's intentions, it seems, have been largely lost on the critical community. Remember Me has been painted as a romance story by the majority, but is it? I saw it as something entirely different. As a result, it became a case of reading review after review and saying to myself those most cliche and pompous of all phrases, "They just don't get it." But instead of writing some all-encompassing editorial of how I thought I was right and everyone else was wrong I decided to go to the source. I contacted Summit Entertainment and requested interviews with first-time screenwriter Will Fetters and director Allen Coulter. Coulter, as it turns out, is on vacation for a week, but Fetters was available for a conversation and our discussion ended up being more than enough when it came to realizing my intentions of the piece. [Continue at link]
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Post by Lauryn on Mar 21, 2010 12:57:25 GMT -5
Well, I finally saw “Remember Me” yesterday. I sat in front of about twelve tweeny Twilight girls all in a row. Whenever R-Pattz would strike a particularly pensive pose I’d hear a sigh behind me and then a torrent of giggles. (We had the theater all to ourselves.) It’s always fun when groupies are in on the joke of their fan obsession, so even when things got a bit dull on the screen I was still pretty entertained.
Pattinson isn’t as bad as all that. He’s a work in progress but I don’t think he’s doomed to be a poser and a brooder. He’s had a hard time of it in films like this one and especially, “Twilight” where long meaningful glances were made to take up at least thirty minutes of screen time. It’s hard not to get mannered in that kind of film territory. His best scenes in “Remember Me” are with his younger sister, very nicely played (by both actors) with a lightness and genuine affection that makes you believe they are real siblings, and inseparable. Give him a smart comedy role and, if like most Brits, he can play ironic, I would bet he’d be fine --as long as his best pal from “Remember Me” doesn’t tag along. Trust me when I say that Tyler’s sidekick in the film is the everlovin’ Jar Jar Binks of annoying roommates.
The movie plays around with the Gandhi quote ” whatever you do in life will be insignificant. But it is very important that you do it.” And that conundrum kind of drives and plagues the movie, as there really are some things that are momentous only to ourselves, and, as drama, can’t support too much added weight. And, to cut to the controversy with this fim, if you accept that premise, does the way a life ends really change that? It could end with an event or The Event and maybe that was the point they were really trying to make. RE: that date on the blackboard I don’t get all the silly outrage over their using it. Few tragedies in our history have been more politicized and cynically exploited, and I don’t think that was the intent here. Save the outrage for those who more roundly deserve it.
The script is a bit of a shambles, especially as things break apart, with the couple and otherwise, in the last act. Pierce’s role as the father would be fatally underwritten if he weren’t there to fill in the emotional blanks of the script with his performance. He pulls off an evolution out of virtually thin air. The writer should kiss him on both cheeks, LOL! I was a little worried after the critics carped over PB’s bad “Noo Yawk” accent, but I didn’t think he tried one on, other than leaning a little harder on his ‘r’s than usual. The SMA is certainly looking well fed these days, in that old school, three-martini lunch sort of way. But it suits the character.
The script gives Lena Olin as the wife even less to work with though she’s a lovely presence. I dearly wish PB could have had a screen romp with her in earlier days. Has any woman ever made wearing a bowler hat, and nothing else, more sexy? Lucky Daniel Day Lewis. Few American actresses are comfortable enough in their own bodies to project such complete sexual confidence. Of course, if I had a body like she had (and she still looks good!) I’d be confident, too.
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Post by Ace on Mar 21, 2010 14:08:09 GMT -5
This was playing on a screen just down the hall from The Ghost Writer and I was almost tempted to sneak in afterwards. But my sneaking in days are behind me and I was still on an OMG high from The Ghost Writer that I didn't want dissipated. Your conclusions are pretty in line (sans the OTT Outrage of some) with most of what I read. Highpoint being brother/sister relationship - low point being roommate - and too much underdeveloped stuff with so much going on. I wonder why Coulter would fall into filming long brooding shots - he's better than that. I think they'd serve to undermine Pattinson's performance by making it seem more shallow/broody. And considering they cut Lena Olin's scenes - particularly those with the new hubby they didn't need them as time filler. Indeed it's a shame that Pierce and Lena don't share much screen time (ditto Pierce and Chris) and I'd have killed for them to have been in a film together. Lena in An Unbearable Lightness Of Being is indeed a marvel to behold. Your Pierce review pretty much matched Roger Ebert's. RPatz said that Pierce brought a vulnerability and more layers to the role than were on the page - so much it affected how he thought about his own character and changed his performance. I've heard Pierce's accents in multiple clips and it's fine - it does have a bit of Brooklyn edge but not more so than many people from Brooklyn, certainly not a caricature- and more like someone with long ago roots where it comes out more when he's angry. Realistic.
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Post by Lauryn on Mar 21, 2010 14:28:48 GMT -5
The Ghost Writer. Damn. What really irks me is that I just found out it is playing in 2 theaters near me (as in a few minutes away). It wasn't in any of their listings, but if I'd known I would have gone yesterday instead of to RM. Maybe I'll get high on it tonight! Or soon, at least.
My snark about long glances and thirty minutes of screen time was really meant more for Twilight than this film which falls less into the trap. At least the actors have more dialogue to play, though some of it not very good. You can be reminded of stuff you might have written in your journal, but when you were fifteen, not twenty-two, LOL! But self absorption is never wasted on the young, so in that respect it rings perfectly true.
I'd almost turn gay for her, and considering how far that is from my natural inclination, that's saying something.
I would buy that, and they actually take some care to make the point about his roots with a bit about coffee from a favorite diner. Speaking of the diner, there's a scene where the waitress sets down a plate in front of Tyler and says, "Eat something." Just what all of the mothers in the audience were thinking about the poor boy, LOL!
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Post by Ace on Apr 11, 2010 16:28:34 GMT -5
Domestic: $18,701,000 + Foreign: $27,000,000 = Worldwide: $45,701,000 www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i682d2ee2ce2c81781ebe057b89f201feOpening France (No. 6 in Paris and environs) and other European markets was Summit Entertainment's "Remember Me," the romantic drama starring Robert Pattinson. Overall weekend take was $4.7 million from 2,302 screens in 36 territories for a foreign cume of $27 million. As of May 23rd (foreign doesn't include about $1-2m from Switzerland)Domestic: $19,068,240 + Foreign: $35,680,108 = Worldwide: $54,748,348
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Post by Ace on Jun 15, 2010 15:42:10 GMT -5
The DVD comes out June 22nd. There's a printable $8 coupon (alas can't be used for online purchases) www.remembermecoupon.com/
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