Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan’s last couple of pictures haven’t exactly received much love — his “Prisoners”-style thriller “The Captive” was truly corny, and could stand to be a career low point. That could all change, though, with the director’s next film: the tense-looking “Remember,” which tied with Lenny Abrahamson’s stellar “Room” for Audience Choice Award in the category of Best Narrative Feature at this year’s Calgary International Film Festival. The film has recently been picked up by A24, who have been responsible for some of the year’s best and most challenging films (the erstwhile-mentioned “Room,” the sleek and beautiful “Ex Machina” and Noah Baumbach’s winsome “While We’re Young”) and also, perhaps, one of its worst (that would be William Monahan’s truly execrable would-be stalker flick “Mojave”). Now, Egoyan fans, feast your eyes on this new trailer that teases the dark world at play in the Canadian director’s new outing.
The film stars Christopher Plummer, who looks to be in fine form as Zev, a dementia-wracked Holocaust survivor who sets out on a bloody trail of retribution when he gets a tip that the Nazi guard who saw his family murdered more than half a century ago is currently living in North America under an assumed alias. “Remember” looks to feature some juicy parts for some of the heavy hitters in the cast, including Martin Landau as one of Zev’s few friends and what looks to be an intense turn from “Breaking Bad” MVP Dean Norris.
Plummer, meanwhile, lets his magisterial features venture into the realm of haunted: even the movie’s critics have taken time to praise what appears to be another brave and committed turn from the legendary actor. This new effort from Egoyan certainly looks to be more scaled-down and emotionally immediate than his recent string of duds and I, for one, can say that it would be really awesome to see the director knock one out of the park again. Here’s to hoping. (Though, our own Jessica Kiang had mixed feelings when she saw it earlier this year in Venice — here’s her review).
“Remember” opens on January 15, 2016.
