Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: MEMORIA [Denver Film Festival 2021]

Abstract perceptions and plays on time and feeling have been an interesting force in Tilda Swinton's work. She can go from major films blending into the narrative but can always retreat into the corner of weird works when she wants to without losing her empathy. From her beginnings in "Orlando", that aspect of gender construct also has played a big part. In "Memoria" the play is more of existence and the breaking of notions of narrative. Writer/Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is interesting in his perspective and form which is shown in his use of deliberate and sometimes looming long takes where the viewer is looking around the frame to see if something is changing to alter the plot even when it isn't. This works to much better effect as the film goes on as the form shifts a bit in terms of what Tilda's Jessica is perceiving of herself. The aspect of lack of sleep or the reasoning behind her symptoms lacks a definition of psychosis but almost resides the idea of past memory in a way.

The relevance of sound (specifically one sound) is an ongoing mystery but again can reflect in sickness, memory, regression and ultimately enlightenment. It also brings to mind what can be real and what can be hallucination in terms of lack of sleep. This is reflected in one character who may or may not be real but also is dependent on time frame. Swinton plays it completely real throughout but also doesn't overplay it. Her character Jessica also works as an anthropologist and the discussions of life and what was there before is also addressed and inferred. Certain plot points drift of but that seems constructed to misdirect the audience in terms of what Jessica actually hears.

This comes to bear at her later interacting in a jungle setting along a creek with someone who again might or might not be there. The aspect of truth in voices is both meant to be confusing but also have a clarity. One sequence when Jessica asks about rest is wonderfully done in a shot that seems to be solidified in still life. The one reveal is a nice homage and fits in wonderfully with the film adding a nice genre bent without explaining really anything. The setting is also in the jungles of Colombia and within old town Bogota feels authentic so there is an exotic nature of being on the edge, being in the wild but also being in civilization. "Memoria exists in a couple different worlds without really existing in any of them. B

By Tim Wassberg