X
- 2021
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 16 m
- 2021
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 16 m
Summary A Scottish woman (Tilda Swinton), after hearing a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the jungles of Colombia.
Directed By: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Written By: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- 2021
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 16 m
- 2021
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 16 m
Memoria
6.3
Summary A Scottish woman (Tilda Swinton), after hearing a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the jungles of Colombia.
Directed By: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Written By: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
92
100% Positive
34 Reviews
34 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
92
100% Positive
34 Reviews
34 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Weeraskathul also explores how identities emerge, dissolve, and connect but he steps onto that shifting ground of memory and experience through a poetic, reverent portal.
Memoria is a sensory experience, but it takes a performer like Swinton to amplify Joe’s technique.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 43 User Ratings
6.3
56% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
26% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
19% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 43 User Ratings
6.3
56% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
26% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
19% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Just like in 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' and 'Cemetery of Splendour,' Apichatpong Weerasethakul presents another dreamy tale about being in deep contact with us, others, and nature.
The Thai director — for the first time filming out of his country — delivers an enigmatic and very powerful story in which sound is the main protagonist. The film may be incomprehensible, but you just have to let yourself go.
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This is a beautiful and hypnotic cinematic work made to captivate only a few.
I can't wrap my head around the idea of those who might think otherwise.
Call it pretentious of course, you have grounds for it, but this film is an experience that will only find meaning for those who are willing to enjoy it.
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To be as suggestive, yet covert as possible, the great innovation of this film is the notion of how sounds can be memories—all too often in the popular imagination, we think of them as mini-movies of the mind, or visual spots of time as in The Tree of Life or the Romantic poet Wordsworth’s concept.
A master of slow cinema, Weerasethakul takes his time with every shot; long stretches of time pass without any dialogue or movement. In so doing, the film inculcates a kind of hypersensitivity in its viewers, who become suddenly attuned to each flitting blade of grass or buzzing fly that enters the shot—as well as to their own posture and breathing.
Weerasethakul’s Memoria doesn’t give too many answers. It moves at an interminable pace. But those are mostly strengths rather than faults, methods that force the audience to engage with the thoughts and collective memory buried deep within their psyches. In that sense, Memoria is a sensory explosion, and its dense, immersive shrapnel isn’t easily removable.
Memoria is gloriously weird and it has that most magical quality of making you look at things in a totally different way.
Memoria isn’t a film about explanation. You get caught up in it. You don’t ask why. You don’t wonder what’s going on, what will happen next. You just accept it. You trust Weerasethakul. Until about the 100-minute mark (the runtime is 136 minutes), he justifies that trust. Then things begin to falter.
A very odd yet meditative film in every sense of the word. Tilda Swinton stars as a Scottish woman visiting her ill sister in Columbia where she is awakened one night by strange banging noises that only she can hear. From there, she travels and traverses the vast greens and jungles of Columbia in search for answers and discovers some mysterious connections along the way. First off, this is a film that requires an incredible amount of patience. Several scenes are very sedentary and dedicated to showing very minimal activity or even dialogue from the characters involved. In addition to being rather narratively vague,the film is also bound to mystify some but simply confuse others. The biggest draw/highlight for many will likely be Swinton's mesmerizing performance. And while the film is rather unique as a whole, we're left with more questions than answers by the film's end, which proved a little disappointing to me. But overall, besides an always reliable Swinton, it's a film that is incredibly peaceful, thought-provoking, but also frustrating in equal measure thanks largely in part to its cryptic narrative and lack of answers.
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It **** **** **** its grasp never attains fulfillment, leaving viewers feel as though they're been toyed with for more than two hours for a payoff that's only modestly satisfying at best. Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest has its moments of visual and audio appeal, but its protracted, heavily padded, thin and meandering narrative and half-baked character development is a frustrating follow for even the most patient of viewers. Its exceedingly tiresome still shots (of which there are many) alone push audiences to plead for getting on with it already. Those well-versed in the paranormal and metaphysical will find this an especially tedious watch, given that what the filmmaker is going for is apparent quite early on, yet the picture leaves its spectators haplessly bound to sit through the flotsam that leads to a conclusion with few surprises and little satisfaction. "Memoria" has somehow found a fan base among the art house crowd, but, to be blunt, lofty pretention does not translate to profound insight, and that's an overinflated balloon desperately in need if being popped. And none of this takes into account the peculiar distribution plan that has accompanied this picture's release, one that has made it extremely difficult to screen this one in the first place (though, given the result, maybe that's a good thing). Indeed, how this one managed to walk away with awards like the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and the Chicago Film Festival's Gold Hugo for Best Feature is truly beyond me.
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Went to see Memoria because of its raving reviews from critics but really couldn't get how in the world did it get such high score here. Amazing acting from Tilda but the whole movie is extremely slow, boring and pretentious, no idea what director is trying to convey here. Maybe it's too artsy for us to understand.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
185 Films,
Anna Sanders Films,
Beijing Contemporary Art foundation,
Bord Cadre Films,
Burning Blue,
Burning,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Doha Film Institute,
Eficine,
Hubert Bals Fund,
Illuminations Films,
Kick the Machine,
L'Aide aux Cinémas du Monde,
Labodigital,
Louverture Films,
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement International,
Piano,
Proimágenes Colombia,
Purin Foundation,
Rediance,
Sovereign Films (II),
The Match Factory,
Xstream Pictures,
ZDF/Arte
Release Date Dec 26, 2021
Duration 2 h 16 m
Rating PG
Tagline Walla Recording
Website
https://memoriathefilm.com/
Awards
The Platino Awards for Iberoamerican Cinema
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Indiewire Critics' Poll
• 4 Nominations
International Cinephile Society Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
