Remember

Atom Egoyan’s most entertaining movie in years, Remember follows Holocaust survivor Zev Gutman (Christopher Plummer) as he embarks on a journey to find and kill the former Nazi responsible for his family’s death during the war. The Memento-like premise is utilized to exceedingly agreeable effect by director Egoyan and screenwriter Benjamin August, as the movie’s first half benefits substantially from an emphasis on the mystery behind Zev’s hand-written orders – with the character’s quest, which is consistently hindered by his crumbling mental state, heightened by Plummer’s typically masterful turn. The episodic midsection fares much better than one might’ve anticipated, to be sure, as Zev begins tracking down and confronting one aging ex-Nazi after another – with many of these segments possessing a tense, engrossing vibe that proves impossible to resist. (There’s little doubt that the movie’s highlight is one such visit, as Zev engages in a progressively perilous encounter with the son (Dean Norris, delivering a riveting performance) of one of his targets). It’s clear, too, that Remember works as a periodically affecting drama and look at the rigors of aging, while the surprising third act ensures that the movie ends on an exceedingly positive note – which ultimately does secure the picture’s place as a top-notch thriller from a director one might’ve been inclined to simply write off.

***1/2 out of ****