Memoria (2021)
Jul. 25th, 2022 18:01![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyMemoria (2021). Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
I went to see this weird movie last weekend; it will never be released on streaming or home release, but will simply keep circling the globe in theaters as it can. It stars Tilda Swinton as a British expat (?) in Colombia who starts hearing a weird noise, and starts taking steps to figure out what it is.
I can already tell that words are going to fail to convey the experience of watching this movie. Thankfully the noise isn't too creepy--I am very much a horror wimp, but after the first time you hear it, you start expecting it. Basically nothing is ever fully explained, from the setting to the denouement; it took a while to work out from context that the setting even is Colombia. (Swinton's character speaks in mediocre Spanish for much of the film, but she gets the South American accent correct.) At some point I realized that some of the film's disjointedness may in fact be pointing to the fact that she's remembering the future--or the past. Weird things and weird coincidences happen; is it the weirdness of life or something else? Because the film is about hearing, we're primed to listen closely to everything in a way that I don't always consciously do while watching films, and we're rewarded with a striking performance from a live pickup band, as well as a few other extended auditory delights, in a way that most movies would never do.
I haven't been to Colombia, but I've been to Argentina and Peru, and the way the director, who is Thai, shoots the hulking postmodern edifices of Bogota and Medellin really brought Lima in particular back to me, and it makes for a beautiful contrast with the scenes at the end of the film, which takes place in a town in the jungle.
Gur nafjre gb gur dhrfgvba bs gur abvfr gheaf bhg gb or nyvraf, va n arne gbgny yrsg-ghea nobhg svir zvahgrf orsber gur raq bs gur svyz (V npghnyyl gubhtu gubfr ynfg svir zvahgrf jrer rkgenarbhf, ohg ba gur bgure unaq V yvxrq gurz), ohg vg'f fgvyy abg pyrne jurgure gur nyvraf ner gurer va gur cerfrag be jrer gurer va gur cnfg--vg'f n svyz nobhg zrzbel, ohg zl sevraq jub V fnj gur svyz jvgu naq V obgu unq pbzcyrgryl bccbfvgr vagrecergngvbaf bs gung dhrfgvba. Obgu ner shyyl fhccbegrq ol gur ninvynoyr rivqrapr naq obgu svg jvgu gur gurzrf bs gur zbivr. V'ir frra bgure jrveq negfl svyzf nobhg nyvraf gung V nofbyhgryl ungrq (Haqre gur Fxva, V'z ybbxvat ng lbh); V npghnyyl dhvgr yvxrq guvf bar.
Anyway, this movie was a really interesting experience, as a movie, and I think if you go in with an open mind you'll appreciate it. If you have the chance to see Memoria in your city, I'd recommend it; I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
I went to see this weird movie last weekend; it will never be released on streaming or home release, but will simply keep circling the globe in theaters as it can. It stars Tilda Swinton as a British expat (?) in Colombia who starts hearing a weird noise, and starts taking steps to figure out what it is.
I can already tell that words are going to fail to convey the experience of watching this movie. Thankfully the noise isn't too creepy--I am very much a horror wimp, but after the first time you hear it, you start expecting it. Basically nothing is ever fully explained, from the setting to the denouement; it took a while to work out from context that the setting even is Colombia. (Swinton's character speaks in mediocre Spanish for much of the film, but she gets the South American accent correct.) At some point I realized that some of the film's disjointedness may in fact be pointing to the fact that she's remembering the future--or the past. Weird things and weird coincidences happen; is it the weirdness of life or something else? Because the film is about hearing, we're primed to listen closely to everything in a way that I don't always consciously do while watching films, and we're rewarded with a striking performance from a live pickup band, as well as a few other extended auditory delights, in a way that most movies would never do.
I haven't been to Colombia, but I've been to Argentina and Peru, and the way the director, who is Thai, shoots the hulking postmodern edifices of Bogota and Medellin really brought Lima in particular back to me, and it makes for a beautiful contrast with the scenes at the end of the film, which takes place in a town in the jungle.
Gur nafjre gb gur dhrfgvba bs gur abvfr gheaf bhg gb or nyvraf, va n arne gbgny yrsg-ghea nobhg svir zvahgrf orsber gur raq bs gur svyz (V npghnyyl gubhtu gubfr ynfg svir zvahgrf jrer rkgenarbhf, ohg ba gur bgure unaq V yvxrq gurz), ohg vg'f fgvyy abg pyrne jurgure gur nyvraf ner gurer va gur cerfrag be jrer gurer va gur cnfg--vg'f n svyz nobhg zrzbel, ohg zl sevraq jub V fnj gur svyz jvgu naq V obgu unq pbzcyrgryl bccbfvgr vagrecergngvbaf bs gung dhrfgvba. Obgu ner shyyl fhccbegrq ol gur ninvynoyr rivqrapr naq obgu svg jvgu gur gurzrf bs gur zbivr. V'ir frra bgure jrveq negfl svyzf nobhg nyvraf gung V nofbyhgryl ungrq (Haqre gur Fxva, V'z ybbxvat ng lbh); V npghnyyl dhvgr yvxrq guvf bar.
Anyway, this movie was a really interesting experience, as a movie, and I think if you go in with an open mind you'll appreciate it. If you have the chance to see Memoria in your city, I'd recommend it; I wouldn't mind seeing it again.