'Spider Forest' and 'The Alzheimer Case'

Okay, I've decided to work backward as the flicks that are fresh in my mind are easier to write about. I'm going to have to do some more mental flexing to do justice to the ones I saw on Friday. How people with day passes manage to remember any of the films they’ve seen is a mystery to me.

And so here's a great seque to discussing the two films I saw yesterday: both 'Spider Forest' and 'The Alzheimer Case' deal with memory loss, each in a unique and interesting ways.

Before seeing Spider Forest last night, I’d heard it described as a film for those who liked ‘Mulholland Drive’ but found it too linear. While I don’t think it’s very accurate statement, the film does invite comparisons to David Lynch. The creepy tone, gruesome murder scene, elliptical narrative structure, and ambiguous plot resolution are all Lynchian trademarks but I think Spider Forest is a little more straightforward or at least it lends itself more readily to a range of interpretations at to what's happened in the film.

The set up: a man wakes in the forest, discovers the mutilated corpses of coworkers in a house in a forest, and pursues a man he believes to be the killer. Though most of the ensuing story is told in what may be hazy, and possibly wholly fictitious, recollections of the past, each memory recreates a moment of truth that one could easily see as happening to this man. We see him mourn the loss of his wife then hear other stories about death and loss and wonder, are these manifestions of one event or separate incidents that actually occurred.

The film poses epistemological questions like: How do we know that we know? What differentiates consciousness from sleep? Is what we consider reality merely our continual reconstruction of our past experiences? For me, figuring out what's happened to the main character in 'Spider Forest' is akin to piecing together the fragments of a bizarre dream, but with the pleasure of seeing these fragments unfold in a series of beautifully shot frames. Definitely recommend.

'The Alzheimer Case' approaches memory loss more directly. A hitman who suffers from the titular affliction struggles to both elude and assist the police who are trying to solve a string of murders involving child prostitution. As he struggles to both suppress painful memories from the past and he comes into direct conflict with the police detective who is also dealing with painful memories (as in Spider Forest, the loss of a spouse).

This is a really police thriller in the vein of Michael Mann's 'Heat' which I reference mainly because the director himself mentioned it a couple of times during the Q & A (apparently the opening shot is an homage to the opening shot in 'Heat' and he admits to appropriating the same colours used in the photography).

The film got 5 stars in Now Magazine and I can understand why: it's exciting, smart, has a sense of humour, doesn't try to reinvent the wheel or introduce a series of twists (a staple of any recent Hollywood thriller), and presents characters who are complex and fascinating to watch. It will probably be released at some point in the future as it just received the nod as Belgium's official entry for next year's Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Gotta get back to work but will add comments for Sunday's films later...Daniel, did you see Spider Forest last night (I missed your call)? If so, what did you think?