Rememory

{{Infobox film

| name = Rememory

| image = Rememory poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Mark Palansky

| producer = Daniel Bekerman
Lee Clay

| writer = Mark Palansky
Michael Vukadinovich

| starring = Peter Dinklage
Julia Ormond
Anton Yelchin
Henry Ian Cusick
Gracyn Shinyei
Colin Lawrence

| music = Gregory Tripi

| cinematography = Gregory Middleton

| editing = Jane MacRae
Tyler Nelson

| production_companies =

{{Plainlist|

Great Point Media
First Point Entertainment
Scythia Films

}}

| distributor = Lionsgate Premiere

| released = {{Film date|2017|1|25|Sundance|2017|8|24|Google Play|2017|9|8|United States}}

| runtime = 111 minutes{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/rememory-969423|title='Rememory': Film Review |last=DeFore|first=John|work=The Hollywood Reporter|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|date=January 27, 2017|accessdate=March 20, 2017}}

| country =

{{Plainlist|

United Kingdom
United States
Canada

}}

| language = English

| budget =

| gross = $70.212{{cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Rememory#tab=summary|title=Rememory (2017)|publisher=Nash Information Services|work=The Numbers|accessdate=May 26, 2019}}

}}

Rememory is a 2017 British-American-Canadian science fiction mystery film directed by Mark Palansky and written by Mark Palansky and Michael Vukadinovich. The film stars Peter Dinklage, Julia Ormond, Anton Yelchin, Henry Ian Cusick, Gracyn Shinyei and Colin Lawrence. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2017. The film was released on Google Play on August 24, 2017, before being released in theaters and video on demand on September 8, 2017, by Lionsgate Premiere. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Sam Bloom (Peter Dinklage) and his brother Dash (Matt Ellis) are driving in the night when their car collides with another, causing his brother’s death.

After a year, scientific pioneer Gordon Dunn (Martin Donovan) mysteriously dies. He has created a device that allows one to record memories and watch them. Bloom sets about trying to solve the murder using this memory machine, while also hoping to recover the memory of his brother's death to understand his final words. Bloom learns that Dunn’s device has a technical fault which causes recurring hallucinations for its users including him. Most of the users have been quite upset with Dunn, directly blaming him for their mental deterioration. He also finds out that Dunn and his wife Carolyn (Julia Ormond) were separated after they lost their only daughter in an accident. After a confrontation with one of his patients, Dunn realized how much pain his machine caused people and attempted to use it to erase his own painful memories. However, doing so resulted in his death when the machine sent him into synaptic failure.

Bloom re-watches his “accident memory” and realizes his brother was just singing song lyrics as he died. The real truth of his memory is realizing that the Dunns were in the other car and that their daughter was killed in the collision. Bloom had fled the scene after seeing the little girl dead, leaving his brother to take the fall. Bloom hands over his memory to Carolyn as a sort of confession apology. Time passes and it is unclear if she watches the memory glass, later she throws it into the sea with Dunn’s recordings as she watches her daughter playing on the water—a hallucination resulting from her own use of the memory device. A montage of the lives of everyone affected by the device is shown over the launch of the repaired memory device while a recording by Dunn plays describing the power of memories for a person.

Sam is last seen at the dock, with a completed model he had created of all of the test subjects, Carolyn, himself, and Dunn and throws it into the water, as a means of allowing himself to let go and move on.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Peter Dinklage as Sam Bloom
Julia Ormond as Carolyn Dunn
Martin Donovan as Gordon Dunn
Anton Yelchin as Todd
Henry Ian Cusick as Robert Lawton
Evelyne Brochu as Wendy Polk
Matt Ellis as Dash Bloom
Colin Lawrence as Mike Buckland
Chad Krowchuk as Neil Frankel
Gracyn Shinyei as Jane Dunn
Scott Hylands as Charles
Courtney Richter as Cindy
Kathryn Kirkpatrick as Becca
Carrie Anne Fleming as Norma Myers
Andrew Herr as Wendy's Male Lover

}}

Production

On March 27, 2012, Catherine O'Hara and Peter Dinklage joined the cast of the film.{{cite web|last=Brooks |first=Brian |url=https://deadline.com/2012/03/catherine-ohara-and-peter-dinklage-board-mark-palanskys-rememory-249699/ |title=Catherine O'Hara And Peter Dinklage Board Mark Palansky's 'Rememory' |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media |date=March 27, 2012 |accessdate=December 31, 2016}} On February 10, 2016, Julia Ormond replaced O'Hara in the film.{{cite web|last=Patten |first=Dominic |url=https://deadline.com/2016/02/julia-ormond-star-rememory-peter-dinklage-mark-palansky-1201699876/ |title=Julia Ormond To Star In Mark Palansky's 'Rememory' |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media |date=February 10, 2016 |accessdate=December 31, 2016}} Principal photography began in Gastown, Vancouver on January 25, 2016, and ended on February 22, 2016.{{cite web|url=http://yvrshoots.com/2016/01/indie-mark-palanskys-rememory-with-peter-dinkage-filming-in-gastown-today.html |title=SHOOT: Mark Palansky's REMEMORY With Peter Dinklage Filming in Gastown Today |work=Hollywood North |first=Susan |last=Gittins |date=January 28, 2016 |accessdate=December 31, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ssninsider.com/on-the-set-for-22616-dwayne-johnson-zac-efron-start-shooting-baywatch-peter-dinklage-julia-ormond-wrap-rememory/ |title=On the Set for 2/26/16: Dwayne Johnson & Zac Efron Start Shooting 'Baywatch', Peter Dinklage & Julia Ormond Wrap 'Rememory' |publisher=TSS News|work=SSN Insider|author=SSN Insider Staff |date=February 26, 2016 |accessdate=December 31, 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228134643/http://www.ssninsider.com/on-the-set-for-22616-dwayne-johnson-zac-efron-start-shooting-baywatch-peter-dinklage-julia-ormond-wrap-rememory/ |archivedate=February 28, 2016}}

Release

The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2017.{{cite web|last1=Patten|first1=Dominic|url=https://deadline.com/2016/12/sundance-2017-premieres-midnight-special-events-robert-redford-rashida-jones-1201864406/|title=Sundance 2017: Robert Redford, New Rashida Jones Netflix Series, 'Rebel In The Rye' & More On Premiere, Docu, Midnight & Kids Slates|website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media|date=December 5, 2016|accessdate=July 18, 2018}} The film was released on Google Play on August 24, 2017, before being released in theaters and video on demand on September 8, 2017, by Lionsgate Premiere.{{cite magazine |first=Clark |last=Collis |url=https://ew.com/movies/2017/08/14/peter-dinklage-rememory-trailer/ |title=Peter Dinklage is on the case in exclusive Rememory trailer |publisher=Time |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=August 17, 2014|accessdate=August 28, 2017}}

Reception

File:Peter Dinklage by Gage Skidmore.jpg received praise for his performance as Sam Bloom.]] Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 25%, based on 20 reviews with a consensus reading, "Rememory has some intriguing themes and a compelling cast to work with, but they're lost in the fog of a forgettable melodrama."{{cite news| url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rememory| title=Rememory (2017) | publisher=Fandango Media |work=Rotten Tomatoes | accessdate=July 18, 2018}}

Guy Lodge of Variety reviewed the film, saying, "A bit of a trudge, despite Dinklage's committed and empathetic performance."{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/rememory-review-1201971810/|title=Sundance Film Review: 'Rememory'|last=Lodge|first=Guy|work=Variety|publisher=Penske Business Media|date=January 28, 2017|accessdate=March 20, 2017}} Yasmin Kleinbart of The Young Folks and Scott Beggs of Nerdist both went on to say that "Dinklage deserves better than this film."{{cite web|url=http://www.theyoungfolks.com/film/sundance-2017-review-rememory/96016|title=Sundance 2017 Review: Rememory|last=Kleinbart|first=Yasmin|work=The Young Folks|date=January 28, 2017|accessdate=March 20, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://nerdist.com/peter-dinklage-deserves-better-than-rememory-sundance-review/|title=Peter Dinklage Deserves Better Than REMEMORY (Sundance Review)|last=Beggs|first=Scott|work=Nerdist|date=January 26, 2017|accessdate=March 20, 2017}} Meredith Borders of Birth.Movies.Death. shared similar sentiments, saying, "If it weren't for Dinklage's remarkable performance, the film would have very little to recommend it."{{cite web|url=http://www.birthmoviesdeath.com/2017/01/25/sundance-review-rememory|title=Sundance Film Review: 'Rememory'|last=Borders|first=Meredith|work=Birth.Movies.Death.|date=January 25, 2017|accessdate=March 20, 2017}}

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave a more positive review, saying, "A good-looking mystery whose sci-fi elements take a back seat to meditations on guilt and deception."