Hello Reader,

Although Michel Franco's last film, New Order, was one of our most hated films of 2020, his new very silly but surprisingly entertaining (if dark!) film Memory is well worth seeing.

Mongrel Media has released Memory on VOD today in Canada.

The film is about a man with dementia (Peter Sarsgaard) who meets a woman traumatized by childhood sexual assault (Jessica Chastain) at a high school reunion. As it turns out, he needs a career, and she's looking for home care work. He hires her. A friendship forms that turns into more, and it helps her to confront her family about how they haven't believed her about her childhood assault for many years. It's a film of convenient dementia, but it compensates for it with the across-the-board excellent performances.

I haven't formally reviewed it, but I recommend reading Seventh Row contributor Angelo Muredda's (quite funny) review over at (RIP!!) CinemaScope online from TIFF.

Peter Sarsgaard, who has long been one of the best and most under-appreciated character actors in the US, won the Best Actor Volci Cup at Venice for his performance in the film. (In a sweet twist, his Mr Jones director Agnieszka Holland also won an award for her fantastic forthcoming film Green Border.)

I don't know if Sarsgaard is so much better in this than in everything else he's done, but he is the lead. Chastain is great, as always, though I don't feel she's doing something particularly new that I haven't seen before. What's special here is that Franco's impeccable direction showcases what the actors can do. Every scene is shot in a single, uncut take with a still camera. Franco's blocking is impeccable. This means we get to see how the actors interact with each other and the moments of awkwardness and revelation between the words.

When I filled out my ballot for the Online Film Critics Society, I nominated Merritt Wever for her work in the film as Chastain's younger sister. In the scene where Chastain confronts her family about their silence around her assault, there's a wide shot which captures Wever physically melting to the floor as she recognizes she knew what happened to her sister and stayed quiet anyway.

Win a FREE digital copy of Memory- Reply to enter

We are giving digital film copies to Canadian entrants (they only work on Canadian iTunes).

Hit reply to enter. We will prioritize people who have not yet won anything slightly; otherwise, entries will be randomly selected. I'd love to know why you're interested in watching the film.

How to watch

The film will be on VOD in Canada through Mongrel Media. I also expect it to land on streaming service Hoopla offered by Canadian public (and university) libraries, within a week or two. Hoopla has a partnership with Mongrel and gets most of their titles (unless Mongrel only has theatrical rights, like when they release Mubi films).

Winners will get access to a copy of the film to keep and watch forever! But it's still worth watching if you're looking for a character-driven, talky film with compelling performances. These get made so rarely nowadays!

The poster & the photo that persuaded me to watch the movie

This promotion requires me to include the film's official poster (below), which is a decent representation of the film,which is about two emotionally closed-off people finding unexpected intimacies that help them cope with their traumatized bodies.

That said, I was persuaded to watch the film on the strength of Sarsgaard's scarf game, which makes him look dashing (also mentioned in Angelo's review). So I would be remiss if I didn't use that here to persuade you to watch the film, too.

If you'd like a chance to watch the film at no charge, shoot us a reply to enter the giveaway.

Best,

The Seventh Row team

P.S. Did this land in your promotions tab? If so, drag the email into your inbox so you never miss another Seventh Row email again!

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