Remember Me

*Photo Courtesy of Summit Entertainment TM (All Rights Reserved)

As the theater darkened, The Sex and the City 2 trailer, with the help of Alicia Keys, glorified New York. As the Eclipse trailer rolled next, the dusky light deified Rob Pattinson's eyes and sculpted body.

Then Remember Me started. First, two men mug and murder a mother on a Brooklyn subway platform. Then Tyler, Pattinson's character, smokes on his emergency exit stairs--drunkenly hating himself and the world. In two minutes, New York the Glamorous and Rob Pattinson the Greek god disappear.

There is no room for fantasy in Remember Me. Tyler, a 21-year-old college student, longs for his deceased brother, direction in his life, and his father's love (though he would not admit to the last one). Ally, the girl Tyler falls in love with, wants to get her life back to the way it was before her mom's murder and her dad's withdrawal. Caroline, Tyler's eleven-year-old, brilliantly artistic sister, wants her dad's love and the bullies' acceptance. The two dads aren't happy with the way their lives have turned out, but are unwilling to change. They are distant from their children, and lost in their own worlds.

The characters deserved a better plot. This should have been a memorable, thought-provoking drama, but Remember Me trips over itself by overestimating its strength. In an early scene, Ally tells Tyler that she eats dessert first--she never knows when an asteroid will fall out of the sky. As the movie progresses, her philosophy gets more and more credible. An asteroid falls every other scene. Sudden deaths are unlikely, but not here. Eventually, death becomes a gimmick, which makes the audience lose all respect for the characters.

Another mistake is the overly-obvious symbols and foreshadowing tactics. Every scene seems to be shot in slow motion. All the music is too loud, and too suspenseful. Finally, Remember Me rushes headlong toward an overblown ending, which prevents the movie from achieving greatness and renders it merely watchable.

Robert Pattinson (Tyler Hawkins): 4 Stars
Emilie de Ravin (Ally Craig): 4 Stars
Pierce Brosnan (Charles Hawkins): 3 Stars
Chris Copper (Neil Craig): 4 Stars
Ruby Jerins (Caroline Hawkins): 5 Stars
Tate Ellington (Aidan Hall): 3 Stars
Allen Coulter (Director): 3 Stars
Will Fetters (Screenplay): 3 Stars

Movie: 3.5 Stars; best to rent it on DVD

At Home in New York

My Uncle Chris, a Vice President of Research at Regional Plan Association, wrote an article called "An Urban Barn Raising" a few years back. It celebrates the American spirit found in the great city of New York.

http://www.rpa.org/2006/12/spotlight-vol-5-no-22-an-urban-barn-raising.html

I love this spirit; it's something you might not notice if you're just visiting.

The Not-so-cold Transportation System

Metro-North, November 8, 2009. 6:05 train from Mitford CT, to Grand Central .

On the Metro-North Railroad, a few weeks ago, a woman with blond hair gave up her seat to an 85 year old woman, whose legs were failing but whose cheer was still strong.
When the conductor came to collect her ticket he realized that she had gotten on the express train, when she should have waited for the local train. She held out the money for her ticket, but he refused to take it. He seemed a little upset but told her he would see what he could do.

A few minutes later, he came back and told her that the train would stop in about five minutes at an unscheduled stop to let her off. When the train stopped, she was a little wobbly on her feet. The conductor offered her his arm and helped her onto the platform.

The strangers around me and I smiled at each other. This man's kindness gave us all a momentary connection.

To both the conductor and the woman with the blond hair: thank you for showing such rare kindness.

Picky Eater

Picky Eater

On my way back from that magical wonderland commonly known as Trader Joe's, I saw a homeless man. He had so few resources that he had to use newspapers on top of his clothing to keep warm. How awful. In a spirit of Christian charity, I mustered my courage and stepped out of the stream of people.

"Would you like a roll?" I said in my most cheerful voice as I pulled a fresh artisan roll out of the bag.

He looked at me in disgust and shook his head. "How do I know if it's sanitary?"Well all right. He's got a point. The swine flu could attack anyone...anywhere...at anytime. I put the roll back in the bag.

I had already stopped, though, and felt I could not leave him empty-handed. I looked through my other groceries. "Do you want some cookies?" I pulled out a sealed container of chocolate chip.

"What are you trying to do poison me with your unhealthy food?!" His voice rose with disdain.

In one final attempt to be generous, I pulled out a whole pack of deli turkey (it had taken me three years to save up enough money to buy meat in New York.) "Do you want some turkey?" I said meekly, hoping against hope that he would take it so I could just leave and spend the rest of the walk up Broadway patting myself on the back.

"Miss! Miss," he chided, "if you have all those groceries in that bag, and you can't think of anything better to do with them than give them away, there must be something wrong with you!"

"Uh…well...God bless you." I walked away. When I got home I ate a sandwich--turkey on an artisan roll--and a plate of chocolate chip cookies.