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Remember (2015 film)

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Remember
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAtom Egoyan
Written byBenjamin August
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPaul Sarossy
Edited byChristopher Donaldson
Music byMychael Danna
Production
companies
  • Egoli Tossell Film
  • Serendipity Point Films
Distributed by
Release dates
  • September 10, 2015 (2015-09-10) (Venice)
  • October 23, 2015 (2015-10-23) (Canada)
  • December 31, 2015 (2015-12-31) (Germany)
Running time
94 minutes[2]
Countries
  • Canada
  • Germany[1]
Languages
  • English
  • German
Budget$9.6 million[3]
Box office$3.7 million[4]

Remember is a 2015 drama thriller film directed by Atom Egoyan and written by Benjamin August. Starring Christopher Plummer, Bruno Ganz, Jürgen Prochnow, Heinz Lieven, Henry Czerny, Dean Norris and Martin Landau, it was a co-production of Canada and Germany. The plot follows an elderly Holocaust survivor with dementia who sets out to kill a Nazi war criminal in retaliation for the death of his family and was inspired by August's consideration that there were fewer parts for senior actors in recent years.

After a screening at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, it was theatrically released in Canada on October 23, 2015, in Germany on December 31, 2015, and in the United States by A24 on March 11, 2016. Remember received mostly positive reviews and won a few film festival awards. At the 4th Canadian Screen Awards, August received the Award for Best Original Screenplay and Remember was also nominated for Best Motion Picture.

Plot

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In a New York City nursing home, Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Zev Guttman, an 89-year-old dementia patient, awakens looking for his wife, Ruth, who died two weeks prior. Another elderly patient and fellow Auschwitz survivor, the incapacitated Max Rosenbaum, reminds Zev of what he promised to do when Ruth died. Max has continually reminded Zev that their families were murdered at the camp by the Blockführer Otto Wallisch, who was believed to have immigrated to the U.S. under the false name Rudy Kurlander. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has located four Rudy Kurlanders, but there is no evidence to arrest any of them. Max reminds Zev that they are the only two who can still recognize Wallisch.

Max convinces Zev to avenge their families by seeking out and killing Wallisch and provides him written instructions to follow. Zev leaves the nursing home in a taxi and boards a train to Cleveland as a Silver Alert is issued for his disappearance. He has moments of confusion but he relies on the letter, which reminds him Ruth is dead, and Max arranges his travel. Max directs Zev to a gun shop in Cleveland, where he buys a Glock 17, and then to the four men in the U.S. and Canada named Rudy Kurlander, one of whom is the former Blockführer.

Zev confronts the first Rudy Kurlander, a German veteran of World War II, in his home, but this Kurlander proves that he served in the North African Campaign and was never near Auschwitz. Zev finds the second Rudy Kurlander in a nursing home in Hearst, Ontario, but he turns out to have been a prisoner in Auschwitz also, sent there as a homosexual, which he proves by showing Zev his arm tattoo.

Zev travels to Boise, and arrives at the house of the third Rudy Kurlander in Bruneau, Idaho. His son, John, an Idaho state trooper, tells Zev that his father died three months ago. John, who thinks Zev is an old friend of his father's from the war, shows him his father's Nazi memorabilia but reveals, after several glasses of whiskey, that his father was only a boy and a cook during the war. When John, who is a neo-Nazi, sees Zev's tattoo and realizes he is Jewish, he becomes enraged and lets loose his German shepherd, Eva, named after Eva Braun. Zev shoots the dog and then John in self-defense, collapses in exhaustion on John's bed and leaves the house in the morning.

In Reno, Nevada, Zev falls in the street and is taken to the hospital, which contacts his relieved son, who travels to Reno. After a young girl reads his letter to him, Zev leaves for South Lake Tahoe, California by taxi. After a night in a hotel where Zev is forced to use his credit card, he arrives at the home of the fourth Rudy Kurlander and his family, and recognizes him from his voice as the Auschwitz Blockführer. Zev's son, who traced him through his credit card and then the taxi service, arrives to witness Zev threatening to shoot Rudy's granddaughter unless he confesses "the truth" to everyone. Rudy admits to his daughter and granddaughter that he was in the SS and killed "many" people. However, he says his real name is Kunibert Sturm — and Zev himself is Otto Wallisch. They were both Blockführers, and after the war, tattooed each other to pose as Jewish survivors. Shocked, Zev shoots Sturm and then, declaring "I remember," fatally shoots himself.

Back in New York, the horrified nursing home residents watch television news reports of the murder/suicide. Max reveals that he recognized Zev as Wallisch when he arrived at the nursing home, and that Wallisch and Sturm killed his family. On Max's desk, a copy of his letter to Zev is shown along with a picture of Otto Wallisch and a handwritten confession by Max.

Cast

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Production

[edit]
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan said he directed Remember after being drawn to its unconventional story.

Benjamin August, a Jewish writer from New Jersey living in Los Angeles and who had never written a produced film before, told Canadian Jewish News that the concept of Remember "started... with wanting to write a movie starring an older man." He felt elderly actors received few leading parts and that old characters are sympathetic.[5] August sent his screenplay in to Canadian producer Robert Lantos, who envisioned Egoyan as the ideal director.[6]

On April 30, 2014, it was announced that the film would be directed by Egoyan, and would star Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Dean Norris, Bruno Ganz, Heinz Lieven, and Jürgen Prochnow.[7] Egoyan said the film came at a time when the last of the Holocaust survivors and criminals were alive, and that trials underway in Germany also made the film timely.[8] Time magazine specifically noted that the trial of Reinhold Hanning was in the news.[9] The director claimed to find August's story unconventional and a "high-risk venture".[8] Plummer, who was Egoyan's first and only choice for the part of Zev,[10] stated he was also attracted to the project for its unconventional take on a historic subject.[9]

Principal photography began on July 14, 2014,[11] with scenes filmed in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario[10] and northern Ontario.[12] For the scene in which Zev kills John Kurlander, Egoyan intended to use a stunt double for Plummer, but Plummer demanded he perform the scene himself. Plummer later told CBC News, "For a moment, I was a little bit pissed off.... Because it made me feel suddenly rather old."[13] However, he admitted firing the gun "frightened" him because "they pack the kick of an elephant" and that he was "terrified" of the dog in the scene. Dean Norris said Plummer used this fear in his performance.[14] The film had a $13 million budget.[6]

Release

[edit]

On May 11, 2015, A24 acquired distribution rights to the film.[15] Remember was screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival on September 10, 2015, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation,[12] and also screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[16][17][18] The film was released in Canada on October 23, 2015.[19] The film was released on DirecTV Cinema in the United States on December 17, 2015.[20][21] The film was originally scheduled to open in the U.S. in a limited release on January 15, 2016, but was delayed until February 12.[18][22] It was then delayed again until March 11, 2016.[23]

Reception

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Box office

[edit]

According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed $1,184,564 in North America and $2,507,927 in other territories for a worldwide total of $3,692,491.[4] The film made $800,000 in Canada, which was considered disappointing.[24][25]

Critical response

[edit]
Critics praised Christopher Plummer's performance, and he was nominated for Best Actor at the Canadian Screen Awards.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 69%, based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Remember risks wandering into exploitative territory, but it's bolstered by some of Egoyan's best latter-day directing and a typically stellar performance from Christopher Plummer".[26] Metacritic reports a score of 52 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[27]

Jeryl Brunner of Parade called it "one of the most powerful and unique Nazi revenge films to come around in a long time."[28] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph called the John Kurlander scene "supremely tense" and the film more appealing than Egoyan's last films.[29] John Lasser of IGN wrote "One of the things Egoyan does brilliantly here is to not only offer the larger tale but to work in incredibly tense smaller moments as well," and praised Plummer for "an utterly heartbreaking performance."[30] Tashauna Reid of CBC News wrote "Egoyan takes audiences on an intricate, thrilling ride, with a few surprises along the way,"[31] called Plummer's acting "riveting," and Martin Landau and Dean Norris "equally strong."[13] Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail wrote, "Remember is admirable– remarkably, it builds a drama of genuine suspense around the quest for vengeance of a forgetful 90-year-old– but it is also frustratingly limited in ways that can't really be discussed without revealing its surprise ending."[32]

Jake Wilson of The Sydney Morning Herald gave a more mixed review, judging the film to have a "gimmicky script by newcomer Benjamin August that borrows heavily from Christopher Nolan's Memento."[33] Michael Rechtshaffen of the Los Angeles Times also wrote "Remember benefits mightily from a quietly commanding Christopher Plummer performance that almost makes you forget the wonky plot logic."[34] Richard Roeper panned the film as "bold but often ludicrous."[35] Guy Lodge of Variety also disapproved, writing the film "puts a creditably sincere spin on material that is silly at best. At worst, tyro writer Benjamin August's screenplay is a crass attempt to fashion a Memento-style puzzle narrative from post-Holocaust trauma."[1]

In January 2017, The A.V. Club posted an analysis of the scene where Zev meets the character John Kurlander. The review noted some surface-level similarities between Norris' work as John and his role as Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad, but its main focus was on how events in 2016 and growing vocalization of white supremacists served to make the scene much more disturbing and realistic than it felt when the film premiered in 2015.[36]

Accolades

[edit]
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Calgary International Film Festival 2015 Audience Choice - Narrative Feature Won[a] [37][38]
Canadian Screen Awards 13 March 2016 Best Motion Picture Robert Lantos and Ari Lantos Nominated [39]
Best Original Screenplay Benjamin August Won
Best Actor Christopher Plummer Nominated
Best Visual Effects Eric Doiron, Sarah Wormsbecher, Nathan Larouche, Anthony De Chellis, Geoff D.E. Scott, Jason Snea, Joel Chambers, Kaiser Thomas, Lon Molnar and Rob Kennedy Nominated
Canadian Society of Cinematographers 2 April 2016 Theatrical Feature Cinematography Paul Sarossy Nominated [40]
David di Donatello 18 April 2016 Best Foreign Film Nominated [41]
Hanoi International Film Festival 5 November 2016 Best Feature Film Atom Egoyan Won [42]
Best Main Actor Christopher Plummer Won
Mar del Plata Film Festival 2016 Audience Award Atom Egoyan Won [43]
Saturn Awards 28 June 2017 Best Independent Film Nominated [44]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 6 January 2016 Best Director of a Canadian Film Atom Egoyan Nominated [45]
Best Actor in a Canadian Film Christopher Plummer Nominated
Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film Benjamin August Nominated
Venice Film Festival 2 – 12 September 2015 Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award Atom Egoyan Won [46]
Women Film Critics Circle 2016 Best Actor Christopher Plummer Nominated [47]

Remake

[edit]

A South Korean remake, also titled Remember, was released in 2022.

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Shared with Room

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Guy Lodge (September 10, 2015). "Venice Film Review: 'Remember'". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  2. ^ "Remember (15)". British Board of Film Classification. February 26, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  3. ^ "Remember – PowerGrind". The Wrap. December 12, 2014. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Remember (2016) - Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  5. ^ Adler, Jordan (October 22, 2015). "Movie About Nazi War Criminals Opens This Week". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Knelman, Martin (April 30, 2014). "Christopher Plummer to star as Holocaust survivor in Robert Lantos movie". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  7. ^ "Cannes: Christopher Plummer to Star in Atom Egoyan's 'Remember'". The Hollywood Reporter. April 30, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Page-Kirby, Kristen (March 17, 2016). "Atom Egoyan's 'Remember' proves that memory is faulty". Washington Post. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Berman, Eliza (March 7, 2016). "Christopher Plummer on Nazi Revenge Tale Remember and the Power of Shock Value". Time. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Volmers, Eric (September 27, 2015). "CIFF: Atom Egoyan examines trauma and revenge in new film, Remember". Calgary Herald. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  11. ^ "On The Set For 7/14/14: Dermot Mulroney Starrer 'Insidious: Chapter 3′ Starts, Levan Akin's 'The Circle' Wraps". Studiosystemnews.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Knelman, Martin (October 24, 2016). "Producer hopes voters Remember Plummer at Oscar time". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Reid, Tashauna (October 24, 2015). "Christopher Plummer captivates in revenge thriller Remembere". CBC News. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  14. ^ Ouzounian, Richard (October 23, 2015). "Christopher Plummer and Dean Norris remember a terrifying scene". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  15. ^ Fleming, Mike (May 11, 2015). "Atom Egoyan's 'Remember' Starring Christopher Plummer Sells To A24". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  16. ^ "Venice Film Festival: Lido Lineup Builds Awards Season Buzz – Full List". Deadline Hollywood. July 29, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  17. ^ "Venice Fest Reveals Robust Lineup Featuring Hollywood Stars and International Auteurs". Variety. July 29, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Tartaglione, Nancy (September 11, 2015). "Atom Egoyan's 'Remember' Bows To Long Standing O, Mixed Reviews – Venice". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  19. ^ "Remember". FrontRowCentre.com. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  20. ^ Shoukri, Tarek (December 17, 2015). "Watch: Christopher Plummer is Haunted by Holocaust Memories in Exclusive 'Remember' Clip". Indiewire.com. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  21. ^ "DIRECTV Delivers 'Remember', Directed by Academy Award-Nominated Director Atom Egoyan". Att.com. December 17, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  22. ^ "Remember". BoxOfficeMojo. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  23. ^ "Preview". Slantmagazine.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  24. ^ Houpt, Simon (June 10, 2016). "A lifetime in film, Robert Lantos has more stories to tell". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  25. ^ Foran, Charles (June 17, 2016). "Canada's identity is an experiment in the process of being realized". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  26. ^ "Remember (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  27. ^ "Remember". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  28. ^ Brunner, Jeryl (March 14, 2016). "Filmmaker Atom Egoyan's Remember Captures Rage of Holocaust Victims". Parade. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  29. ^ Collin, Robbie (September 10, 2015). "Remember review: 'supremely tense'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  30. ^ Lasser, John (March 11, 2016). "Remember Review". IGN. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  31. ^ "TIFF 2015 Capsule movie reviews: Beasts of No Nation, Legend, The Danish Girl". CBC News. September 11, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  32. ^ Taylor, Kate (October 23, 2015). "Remember: Senior seeks Second World War vengeance in clever, twisting plot". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  33. ^ Wilson, Jake (May 11, 2016). "Remember review: Atom Egoyan loses the plot in pursuit of Nazi vengeance". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  34. ^ Rechtshaffen, Michael (March 17, 2016). "Despite some memorable failings, Christopher Plummer is persuasive in thriller 'Remember'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  35. ^ Roeper, Richard (April 7, 2016). "'Remember': An improbable revenge story with some wrinkles". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  36. ^ D'Angelo, Mike (January 6, 2017). "Dean Norris plays a neighborhood Nazi in a scene that looks way too relevant today". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  37. ^ "2015 Award Winners Announced" (Press release). Calgary International Film Festival. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  38. ^ Eric Volmers (October 7, 2015). "Room, Remember, Guatanamo's Child among Audience Choice winners at Calgary film fest". Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  39. ^ "2016 Film". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  40. ^ "The 59th CSC Awards Gala" (PDF). Canadian Society of Cinematographers. April 2, 2016. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  41. ^ Anderson, Ariston (March 22, 2016). "'Spotlight,' 'Inside Out' Among Nominees for Italian Oscars". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  42. ^ "Phim về nạn diệt chủng đoạt hai giải lớn nhất LHP Quốc tế Hà Nội 2016". VNExpress (in Vietnamese). November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  43. ^ "Cinema Caught Us!". Mar del Plata Film Festival. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  44. ^ McNary, Dave (March 2, 2017). "Saturn Awards Nominations 2017: 'Rogue One,' 'Walking Dead' Lead". Variety. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  45. ^ "Vancouver Film Critics Circle announces nominations". Playback. December 15, 2015.
  46. ^ Gerard, Jeremy (March 11, 2016). "Atom Egoyan On His Nazi Revenge Drama 'Remember' With Christopher Plummer & Martin Landau – Q&A". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  47. ^ "Women Film Critics Circle Nominations: "Hidden Figures," "13th," & More". Women And Hollywood. December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
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