Archive for March 2010
Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin shine in a film with a profound message.
As I look through the six pages of hurriedly scribbled notes I took while watching Remember Me, I’m struck by the overall ambition and courage of the film. Massive themes are considered here: love and loss, the role parents should play, sibling support, fledgling relationships in college, the role of blunt trauma in the building of character. True, that’s a lot of emotional weight, and the key for enjoyment here is to buy into the overarching sincerity of the film. By taking a risk, and actually being about something, Remember Mebecomes vulnerable to those who would lash out against perceived melodrama in movies. But we’ve got to take back the streets on this one; we need writers and directors out there taking chances, we’ve got to get away from the paint-by-numbers industry that has become modern cinema.
What is the film all about? At its core, relationships, and the popular misconception around them — that is, that they are all “happily ever after” in their most fulfilled state. We often think of love and relationships in the “dancing around with joy” sense, but the other side of the coin, a side that’s just as true and realistic, are the relationships forged by two hurt people in mutual pain. We turn to our loved ones for happiness, yes, but we also turn to them for support, for comfort, for the shared sense of anger and injustice at the world. Not all of love is happiness, and much of it is compromise and a real loss of self.
Of course, I’ve told you nothing about Remember Me in that paragraph, and I’m going to keep that going as much as possible. Knowing less about this film will definitely help you enjoy it more.
There are no less than four tremendous performances in the film.Robert Pattinson is excellent as the brooding and wounded Tyler Hawkins. At his worst Mr. Pattinson is a James Dean caricature, but as the film progresses he gets more comfortable, and we’re left with a realistic guy we can pull for as the culmination sweeps in. Tate Ellington hits all the right notes as Tyler’s quirky but sincere roommate. He’s not a bad guy, he’s not a good guy, he’s just a normal guy you meet all the time in your own life. Emilie de Ravin is perfect as the potential love interest for Pattinson. She mixes a softness with a scorched world-weariness to create a compelling woman. Finally, Ruby Jerins is dynamic as Pattinson’s little sister. Really tremendous dialogue helps each of these young actors, but they deserve a lion’s share of the credit.
I have two smallish complaints about the film, neither of which is a deal breaker. My first issue comes near the middle of the film, when there’s a contrivance that seems out of place for such a cleverly paced film. The second issue is that the film, in going for iconic characters, probably relies on visuals too often near the front end of the movie. For instance, there’s a bit of an overly stylistic sex scene. But none of this is a huge issue, just tiny annoyances, sand in your shoes.
As I’ve previously mentioned, the themes considered here are both broad and complex. Controlling fathers, selfish fathers, the emotional wreckage that lies within each and every family. But modern love is considered too, that fantastic and scary initial connection, the rare treat of lusting after someone you find immediately captivating.
Why see Remember Me? Because you know when you’re watching a drama, you know when you’ve purchased a ticket to a romantic comedy, you’re completely aware of what a date night film is. Movies have been segmented out to every demo, and you never have to see anything even remotely surprising or challenging. The marketing is your warm blanket, soothing you into a life of complacency. Remember Me isn’t any of that noise. The film, while maintaining a sense of the dramatic, also has many well-placed and wry laughs. It pulls at your heartstrings, but it also makes you ponder your own life and actions. Remember Me is challenging in all the right ways, a prime example of the courage directors, writers, and actors should bring into the arena.
There’s a scene in the film where Robert Pattinson attempts to blow out some birthday candles. He’s an avid smoker, but we can’t know if he blows out half the candles with one breath to be a jerk or because that’s simply all the breath he has. We’re asked to consider the motivations of each person, and where we land probably holds a mirror up to our own temperaments. Little moments like that are prevalent in Remember Me, moments when we’re slightly off balance, moments infused with a deeper meaning the audience needs to stretch for, moments of true artistry in filmmaking. We get many pretenders, but Remember Me earns every scene. The point of the film? To care about the ones you love. It’s a profound message, but it often gets lost in the noise of “real life.”
Grade: A-
Source via RobPattzNews
Here are 3 new Robert Pattinson Twitter backgrounds. The first one was made by _iwry_ and the two others were made by goldnmorning
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Great Remember Me wallpaper made by @halvir09
Twilight is part of this movie even if you didn’t intend it, in the way it brings attention to the movie and just the fact that Summit is releasing it. How has that worked for you?
When we cast him Twilight wasn’t out, and I didn’t know who he was. That was an advantage, because I cast him just because I liked him. We hope people will go to this movie who might not have pursued it otherwise. If he wasn’t this phenom, you wouldn’t automatically assume that tens of thousands of teenage girls would show up the first day. We hope that is the case. But this is a movie I made for adults.
When did you realize you had the biggest star in the world in your movie?
Certainly the first day, when we had the thousands of girls standing outside from dawn until dusk. We realized what we were in for. It was not easy, believe me.
We understand there was one day where you snapped at the paparazzi?
We found ourselves in a situation with the movie that we never expected to be in. No one had an idea that basically we had unleashed Elvis. It was tough from the very beginning. All of us were a little gobsmacked by this. We just struggled the best we could. That was just a day that I felt the sense of entitlement the paparazzi had, that they had the right to demand certain kinds of shots. We were just trying to make the day, the sun was falling, the last shot that we did, that was it. They were angry they couldn’t get a shot of him. They felt it was their right, that we should accommodate them. I lost it, and they deserved it. They deserve worse. That was the one time I couldn’t hold back.
What inspired you to cast Rob to begin with?
We needed someone who could embody a certain kind of angst that one feels at 21, and the complications and complex relationships that grow from the confusions of being 21. And Rob seemed in our initial meeting to understand that and grasp that, but have enough distance on it to be able to act that.
Read the full interview at the source
via RPLife
Emilie de Ravin is caught between two worlds.
The bright-eyed Australian actor is in Toronto for a round of interviews promoting her new film, Remember Me, a romantic drama that pairs her with Twilight throb Robert Pattinson. From here, she’ll fly into a snowbound New York for the press junket.
After that, it’s back to tropical Hawaii to finish the sixth and final season of Lost, where she plays Claire, who’s returned this year with a mysterious homicidal mania.
“We’ve got three hours to shoot, or maybe three and a half at this point,” de Ravin says. “So about six or seven weeks left. Not much. And I have no idea how it’s gonna end, I really don’t.”
That’s okay, I say. I’m enjoying the mystery and don’t want to know how it wraps up.
“Well, I do!” She laughs. “But at the same time, I’m kinda used to getting surprised each week when I get my scripts, so I like that now.”
Remember Me offered a change from Lost, though its storyline also features characters struggling with father issues and traumatized by the loss of a close relative. (De Ravin’s Ally loses her mother to a subway mugging; Pattinson’s Tyler found his suicidal brother’s body.)
But the biggest difference was shooting on location in Manhattan, surrounded by hundreds of screaming Twi-hards, all jockeying for a glimpse of their favourite sparkle vampire.
“It’s fascinating, the amount of screaming – young women and girls and older women, and the occasional male,” she laughs. “Women just came out in general. They can just pop out of nowhere at any given moment. I mean, god, some of them were, like, eight years old! How do you even know what a good-looking guy is? You’re eight!
“But you know, it was interesting to navigate that – to stay focused on what you’re doing, when you’ve got so many people just glued to every movement you make. You’re just trying to figure out a scene and be in that moment. I tried to look at it as a challenge, as opposed to a problem.”
De Ravin found her way through it by developing intricate backstories for her character with Pattinson and Chris Cooper, who plays her father – the better to know where Ally was emotionally in any given scene.
“With Chris,” she says, “we spent time together but also spent time really developing our backstory, basically talking about ‘Okay, what do we talk about on a daily basis? Who cooks? Who does this?’ I think that really helped, and hopefully it comes across.
“There was a similar situation with Rob because, you know, there’s a lot of things that are not happening on-screen. We’re going to get to the point where we basically know everything about each other, but you can’t obviously have the audience there for all of that. It’d take months!”
Remember Me gives de Ravin her largest film role to date – and not just because she’s starring opposite Pattinson. The bulk of her big-screen appearances have been smaller supporting roles. She’s dead before Brick even begins, and her screen time in last year’s Public Enemies amounts to a handful of shots in an early robbery sequence.
“You can develop a three-scene character,” de Ravin says, “and it can be great, but the audience doesn’t know as much about you. So they’re not as comfortable with that character, or they don’t feel like they know that character as much. You really get to know the people in this film.”
At the source there are audios of her interview.
via RPLife
Thinking of Rob 