Tilde Swinton is so charismatic on the screen that she finds ways to make the mundane fascinating. In Memoria, she commands the screen while doing very little, filling the silences with her character’s narrative and then once the film reaches its rather challenging conclusion, she grounds it in a way that gives it a veneer of realism.
Weerasethakul also brings to his honestly opaque story a familiarity that help it be accessible. His film starts out rather sedate, following Swinton’s character through the more day to day routines that feel real. The story’s more haunted elements start slowly creeping in including the banging that she hears. It isn’t presented in an overwhelming way, often we forget it a bit until it comes back.
Eventually they get to a crescendo where the supernatural (?) elements come to the fore and Weerasethakul’s narrative refuses to hold our hands any longer, leaving us with a series of unexplainable moments that evoke feelings more than understanding. But his set up to this, and the work of his star, have helped us get here so we can experience it.
The narrative does remain rather elusive and sometimes the film feels like it isn’t going to offer a satisfying resolution, which is okay, but there is a sense of “so what?” At the end that makes the film feel like it was more an exercise in stimuli than in story. Again that’s fine, but the questions it is asking may not be as profound or as stimulating as it thinks it is.
In the end we are left with feelings for sure, and questions, but the quest for answers doesn’t always feel so interesting or compelling. But despite this Memoria does remain beautiful, never boring, even when it is intentionally slowing down.
Memoria
Starring: Tilda Swinton
Writer/Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
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