Ramjet Films Presents..... "Remember When"

Jason, I just watched it. Beautifully and sensitively done. Very powerful, great performances, especially Tori....It looked great too. What else is there to say?
 
My reviews will be made up of three separate categories. One for technical, which includes cinematography, lighting, editing, sound mixing, and score. One for performance which includes the acting. One for writing which includes the script, and story. And then I will summarize up my thoughts in the overall section. I plan to do my best to review each film like this in detail.

Remember When

Writing
The dialog is wonderful. Very natural. The part where she says “Mr. Memory Man” great! And the story… I thought this was a bio-pic. Was this based off of a real life story? It was just simply incredible.

Acting
This is where your film really stood out. Not many films can keep you engaged with most of it being two people talking and sitting, but this one really worked. I admit, I cried at the end part. Your actress was just simply amazing. When he said “how long since I asked her how her day was?” wow. Wow. My hats off to your actors, and to your directing. Awesome!

Technical
This had a really nice natural look to it. I liked it. It felt polished but not too Hollywood, which wouldn’t have worked for this film. The song choice was perfect, and the sound design was great as well! Did I mention the editing? No, because I never noticed it. It was seamless! Good work!

Overall Thoughts
This is going to do very well in this festival, and it is definitely one of my favorites. I think this would do well in film festivals across the country as well. This was just awesome, just great! I don’t know what else to say!
 
Jason,

Unreal man. Good job.

Looked like film. Sware to god. One of the reasons why was the story and the mood.

Everything was brilliant.

I loved the framing.
 
Really great stuff. The intro was a good way to start it and got me interested, and the title sequence fit nicely. What's really impressive is that the bulk of the film is one conversation in one setting, and that it stayed captivating throughout. This is due to terrific acting, carried along by seamless composition, cutting and sound.

Only a bit of tiny nitpicking: At around 4:22, I don't like how his face is slightly out of focus. In the titles at the end, I found that the quotes around the character's names detracted from their veracity, which was built up so well during the film.
 
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Wow. First guys, thanks for taking the time to watch and respond. I really appreciate it.

And, I really appreciate the great comments thus far.

HBlack: Thanks for your suggestions. About the part where his face is out of focus.... I realize it is your subjective opinion, but I thought I would just share kind of my thinking with that beat:

The focus of the action is on her at the moment, and then there is a bit of symbolism (if you will) in his face being slightly out of focus, as his character is now "gone" faded away back into his own little world. He's faded back away, and so that's kinda where that came from :) Maybe it did or didn't work though, or was unecessary... I don't know, heh. Just what I was kinda going for.

You're probably right about the quotes :) Actually, I remember now one of my feedback folks made that comment, and I meant to go back and remove them. I guess my thinking originally was that I did want to hint a little at the fact that this *might* be based on a true story, but adding of the quotes was to not go too far in that direction and to remind that these are just characters in a story, and it is indeed not based on any true story that I am aware of... other than the age statistic that is quoted at the end.

Long winded way of saying... you're probably right about the quotation marks :)

Thanks again, guys for stopping by. I really appreciate the words so far.

Take care,
Jason
 
Hey Jason,

I usually wait and watch them all before I start commenting but I know your heading out of town. I was really touched by this film. The actress really gives an incredible nuanced performance. She is really present in the scene.

The subject matter is heartbreaking and the concept of exploring a moment of temporary lucidity really captures what it must be like. The moments where he is normal are more painful than the moments with the illness.

I thought technically the film looked great. It was shot crisp and not over lit. I would have liked the scene on the porch to begin with the camera giving a bit more head room on the male actor and the close ups to begin a tad wider as well. Then you could have moved in closer as the emotion built. That is my own personal aesthetic though so take it for what its worth.

All and all I really enjoyed it and it got a little dusty in the room for a second there. Great work.

Jim
 
Wow Jason, I have to say, seeing your film makes me REALLY appreciate the nice things you said about mine.

****. I have to watch it again to say anything about it. But ****!

What's odd too is the next thing I want to do is based on the same subject. I am actually planning on talking to the actors about it this weekend!!! How weird is that??? I may ping you about it.

But wow man, just really solid, solid work.
 
Wow! Jason, what a fantastic and worthy entry!!!

My comments haven't changed since I first previewed this film...

It is incredible acted by both of your actors!

It is simply and beautifully directed and shot.

The song is sweet and perfect.

The sound design is flawless.

Wow. Just a wonderful, wonderful film!

Hats off to you my friend! What a way to make your first "official" dvxuser festival film!!!

Best to you!

-Ted
 
Jason - you know all my thoughts already.....
but I just want to proclaim publicly that I think this thing is bad ass.
:)

You know how I feel about the end titles.... so I'll let that go
(except for the fact that I mentioned it again)

But seriously - these are two of the best performances that I've ever seen in any work on this site. Period.
I dig your framing, I dig the pace ... overall, wonderful and impressive piece.
 
Package it up, throw a bow around it and send it off to Sundance. It had better get accepted.

Spectacular. DVXuser filmmakers, take note. This is art.

I'll give a more formal criticism later, when I've had a chance to re-watch it.
 
WOW! Best of the Fest for me thus far. And I've watched quite a few, believe me. This was extremely well crafted on all counts. Really.... fantastic work!
You have to put this in more festivals.

My only nitpick was that I caught the boom move across in the reflection of the window at around the 2:06 mark. That can be fixed though and I'm really nitpicking.

My #1 so far and I really can't see there being anything that can top this. One of the best movies I've seen in any Fest here. This touched me deeply.
The acting was SUPERB!!

I really don't know what else to say.

Cheers,
 
heh, heh. I hoped no one would catch that :) My freshman mistake for only doing one take from each angle. I had about 9 people watch it and maybe 40 viewings total, and no one caught it, so I thought I might get away with it :)

I tried to mask it but either don't have the skills yet, or the software. It is definitely something that I will fix after the fest, or find someone who is willing to fix it for me.

But, for this one, I just chalk it up to learning experience, and having to do everything myself, excuse, excuse :)

Anyways....

Thanks, everyone so far. I'm really humbled by the comments so far. Stefan: Wow... Thanks very much for that. Really looking forward to further comments.

Later,
Jason
 
Hey, man. I almost feel bad for pointing it out but I really don't think you want it distracting anyone from this great piece. It can be fixed! There are some really talented guys around here as you know.

Really, this movie is as close to perfect as they come.

Well done!!
 
Jason,

You favored me with the opportunity to see your script early and I've been blown away with how you've made that original vision come to life. These are actors in the house and you are a blessed man to both have them and to have the skill to use them well.

Brilliant story and such heart. Thank you for making this gem.
 
I thought this was great Jason. The story is sad, but it shows something real in the world. I liked that. The film was great man. So far in this fest I've seen great films, and this is another to add to the list. I really liked the way you shot it, and the acting was superb.
 
This is a powerful little piece, Jason. Impressive for evoking a lot of deep emotions in such a condensed time frame. Dialogue was well-written and of course the performances were top-notch. One of the more moving stories I've seen so far and some of the best acting in the fest. Well done. :)
 
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