11. Memoria; movie review

 

MEMORIA

Cert 12A

136 mins

BBFC advice: 136 mins

"I think I am going crazy." 

No kidding. Tilda Swinton's character, Jessica Holland is literally hearing things and wandering around Bogotá to see if she can identify the noise.

Baffled by its origin, she goes to a sound-effects expert to try to replicate its pitch and resonance.

But to what end? Even if he can repeat the dull bang, what will she do with his sound?

If Memoria is beginning to seem a little offbeat (geddit?), I think that would be a considerable understatement.

I have read the phrase "powerful meditation" connected with Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film. I associate meditation with closed eyes and, sure enough, the film sent me to sleep... twice.

This wasn't too much of a surprise - I was similarly bamboozled by Weerasethakul's much-acclaimed Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

As always, I confess that high-brow art often goes over my head. I need to understand what I am watching otherwise my concentration wanes.

Anyway, Swinton's Jessica is curious - outwardly, she seems perfectly calm, rarely raising above monotone and yet she is wound into a frenzy by the mystery sound.

Meanwhile, Weerasethakul's camera lingers long. It even peers over a man who is sleeping (with his eyes open) for several minutes.

Much has been made of Memoria being made in the Colombian capital but I was left wishing it had shown more of a city rarely seen in movies.

For me, that would have made my engagement with the film more worthwhile.

However, I know that fans of Swinton's enigmatic style will be switched on to a movie which demands its audience can see deeper than me.

What will they make of the ending, though? In a way it resolved the film's biggest question but in another left me even more confused.

Perhaps that's what Weerasethaku wants. Maybe he tries to reach parts which other films don't.

Reasons to watch: Tilda Swinton

Reasons top avoid: Only those into abstract art will get it

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? This is not the first time Tilda Swinton has spoken in a foreign language in a film. For the 2010 film I Am Love, she learned Russian and Italian.

The final word. Tilda Swinton: "We were looking for a place where both of us were strangers, but has this relationship with trauma, that kind of reverberation of trauma that we both recognised as someone from Thailand and someone from Scotland — but there it was in Colombia, loud and clear to be picked up.” Indie Wire

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