The Memory

This review contains minor spoilers.

The Memory. Now, that sounded interesting...and the first couple of scenes I saw interested me even more. Here's how it went: A man stands in the doorway of a pub, eyeing another man, who is downing some beer, when we then get shown a particular 'memory', which reveals all. The events in this flashback unfolds, and eventually, we find out the reason why that man is staring at the drinker...Ok, the story might sound fairly unoriginal, and yes, it might have been done before in 3DMM, but what makes this movie unique is the direction. Each shot has obviously been given a lot of thought, and I was more or less staring at the screen from start to finish. So how did this movie make my eyes glued to the screen? It was partly to do with the great animations and scenery (although I must admit I wasn't too keen on how close to the characters the close-ups were and seeing the individual pixels put me off slightly) and it was also partly to do with the well-chosen music. But what makes The Memory its own is how it was directed, and that was done wonderfully.

The Memory, oddly enough, is a slight mix of Mike Storch's two other short dramas, Maybe Last Year and Mistake, direction-wise. The tension I felt with the shot showing the slightly opened lit door in The Memory reminded me of the scene from Maybe Last Year, where a view of the dark room is shown, very gradually zooming in. In both cases, the suspense was mounting, and I watched with great eager to find out what was behind the door. And before all that, there was the build-up to the 'discovery'. With Maybe Next Year, we get a pleasant mood with Christmas decorations and then moving onto the letters, building up the tension. Likewise, The Memory does the same, but this time, the movie follows the main character, walking around his house, until we get to the main scene...

I remember liking the occasional text coming up in Mistake, which allowed us to read what is in that man's mind, and this is where The Memory shares its similarity with Mistake. We get flashbacks, and the effect of recalling what happened is dramatised with white screens and the 'flash' sounds. I feel that the use of the flashbacks was more effective than the text in Mistake, mainly because I could actually see what the man was visualising, and it made me more nervous as I anticipated what the build-up was leading to. The connections between The Memory, and Maybe Next Year & Mistake were all good, and I would probably go even further than that and say that most of the stuff in The Memory was better done.

Those who read my reviews for the short dramas, Retaliation and Abortion, are probably wondering why I critisized them for leaving questions unanswered, and not The Memory. Simple, The Memory gripped me more than enough so that I did not need to think about anything which may seem ambiguous. The directing behind this movie was done considerably well, making us focus on the key points, and not let our eyes wonder around, picking up questions. Everything seemed to make sense, and Mike Storch managed to show just enough information to keep me engrossed in this short, well-made drama. And that's about it really. To me, The Memory clicked so well. It was just long enough to reveal enough information, and it was directed so well that you fully concentrate on what the director wants you to look at. This is definitely one of Mike Storch's best works.

Score: 82/100