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  • 2022
  • Modern Films
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2022
  • Modern Films
  • 1 h 42 m
Memory Box

Summary Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex en...

Directed By: Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige

Written By: Fadette Drouard, Gaëlle Macé, Khalil Joreige, Joana Hadjithomas

  • 2022
  • Modern Films
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2022
  • Modern Films
  • 1 h 42 m

Memory Box

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 10 Critic Reviews
73
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex en...

Directed By: Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige

Written By: Fadette Drouard, Gaëlle Macé, Khalil Joreige, Joana Hadjithomas

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 10 Critic Reviews
73
90% Positive
9 Reviews
10% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 10 Critic Reviews
73
90% Positive
9 Reviews
10% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
80
Jan 23, 2022
Hadjithomas and Joreige thoughtfully explore trauma while remaining joyful, animating Maia’s photos, which fizz, crackle and dance to life on screen.
By Simran Hans FULL REVIEW
80
Jan 21, 2022
Among other things, the film is an extremely dense fusion of elements that make up our sense of time and memories, including collages of hundreds of old photos, grainy super 8 footage, notebooks, songs and music, sound bites and newspaper articles.
By Deborah Young FULL REVIEW
80
Jan 21, 2022
Edited with minute attentiveness, the film switches back and forth between time periods adroitly in a way that always moves the story forward, while the outstanding performances from the whole ensemble, especially the watchful Vauthier and the fierce Issa, anchor the film.
By Leslie Felperin FULL REVIEW
70
Aug 4, 2022
The relationship between mother and daughter is rather thinly etched — there’s a little too much going on in this ambitious, intergenerational film — but Hadjithomas and Joreige deftly use Maia’s archive to weave together past and present.
By Devika Girish FULL REVIEW
70
Jan 21, 2022
As truths are shared, revelations uncovered and reunions achieved, Memory Box becomes a warming tale of truth and reconciliation.
By Allan Hunter FULL REVIEW
67
Jan 21, 2022
Memory Box is at its strongest in its first half, when Alex steals objects from the box that she’s been forbidden to look at, and her imaginings about her mother’s youth are visualized on screen through mixed media animation.
By Orla Smith FULL REVIEW
60
Jan 21, 2022
The marriage of abstract existential themes, immersive, tactile images and dual timelines is always impressive but only occasionally moving.
By Sophie Monks Kaufman FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Haut et Court, Abbout Productions, micro_scope, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Téléfilm Canada, Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), Crédit d'Impôt Cinéma et Télévision, Gestion SODEC, Crédit d'Impôt pour la Production Cinématographique ou Magnétoscopique Canadienne, TV5MONDE, La Banque Postale Image 12, Sunnyland Film, Doha Film Institute, Les Films Opale, AFAC - The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, SANAD, Twofour54 intaj, Super Ecran, Radio Canada, Groupe Advens-Geocoton, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision (Procirep)
Release Date Aug 5, 2022
Duration 1 h 42 m
Genres
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Awards

Shanghai International Film Festival
• 3 Nominations
The Lebanese Movie Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Canada China International Film Festival (CCIFF)
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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