There are times, when I watch a movie, i put all the expectation bar so low, you know, sooo low that if it turns out to be soo bad, all I feel is just some kind of indifference feelings that will not piss me off at all (because of the ‘I-know-it’s-gonna-be-bad, I’-ve-seen-it-coming, and-since-i-don’t-have-a-girfriend,-I’ve-just want-to-use-the-slack-time that-I’ve-had-by-watching-this’), and then, it turns out that the movie is great, and I feel shame not watching it in earlier opportunities. This happens a lot with movies with unknown directors, genres I’m not fond of, pretty lame premises, bad reviews, and such. Examples ranging from The Bridge of Terabithia ( which I thought just a usual fantasy movie for children ) to Kung-Pow : enter the Fist (I’m a sane person, no need to check my sanity ).

The latest example of this kind of experience comes from REMEMBER ME. A movie that attributes all the criteria of a disaster. Advertised as a touching love story (Duh, for a tarantino man like me), starred Robert Pattinson (Duh again, for a man who think that TWILIGHT is a thing that should be eradicated from the world, alongside poverty), and with a title as uninspired as a sausage commercial (come on, ‘REMEMBER ME’ ? even toddlers can make that title up).

To be noted, REMEMBER ME is not an ‘absolute’ great movie. This is a great movie, ‘relative’ to the expectation that I had beforehand. Once again, Einstein’s theory worked ! This movie completely caught me off- guard so many times. First. this is, actually a story of how we live the life that we had, The finite amount of it, and how we deal with loss which at times comes very sudden. This is not at all a love story. There’s love in the story, but the romance is just trivial, so trivial that the relationship between Pattinson and deRavin I found the weakest (I’m more touched with the relationships between him and his family, whether it’s with his stone hearted dad, his poor little sister that deserve more attention that the one she get, and even, his deceased brother).

Another surprise comes from Pattinson. Playing the almost soulless vampire in the TWILIGHT series, i take him with a pinch of salt in here. But oh but, what a great performance he showcases. As a troubled and damaged young man, he’s so great that I know who I’ll gonna be picturing when I do another reading of Salinger’s Catcher in The Rye. Sure, the comparison is a little bit far-fetched, but I see some Holden Caufield persona in him. if the dialogues on screen consist the word “swell” and “phony”, I probably gonna mistaken that the title of this film is actually ‘Catcher in The Rye Returns’.

And then there’s the ending. Not since Joe Wright’s ATONEMENT that I’ve seen an ending as redemptive, and in the same time, as devastating like this. Some critics might argued this. I know one who said that the twist is exploitative, a cheat. I don’t care. He might be right, I clearly see the point. But in the end, if the result is some big tear-jerkery moment for me, I’d take that as a positive.

So overall, I was completely floored by how good REMEMBER ME actually is. And thanks for a weak year in movies, this might even got the chance to end up in my yearly top 10 list (still not sure gonna title it as the Guilty pleasure, or an underrated overlooked of the year though) . For those of you people that are just like me, who already had some kind of prejudice that this is just another cheap, full of melancholy, soap-opera-ish romance movie, try to see it now. Approval sealed.