Remember Me

Apparently these days if you dress a certain way, maybe to the tastes of your musical idols, or just listen to a certain type of music, that gives you a God like power to say what is ‘good’. E.G. ‘I listen to The Beatles & then some various other bands that aren’t in the charts so that means I can tell you that Robbie Williams is shit’. It’s hypocrisy at it’s finest. You can’t say you’re indie but then copy the way someone dresses. You cannot tell someone else what ‘good’ music is. It’s about feeling, it’s always been about how the music connects to it’s listener. So I come onto the film ‘Remember Me’ , where Jim Lane, 68, from Sacramento wants to review it. JIM LANE, why would a film about a 22 year old man, with no direction, and a strained relationship with his father strike a chord with you? IT WOULDN’T ! SO SHUT YOUR NOISE.

I’ve been speaking about this film all day, and most of what I have heard has been pretty negative. ‘Worst Film Ever’, ‘I nearly fell asleep in the cinema’. I can only come to the conclusion that these people do not have the brain capacity to understand how beautiful & inspirational this film is. Or maybe it’s just that I have a lot of ignorant & naïve friends. Friends who’s lives are so hunky dory & perfect that they can’t identify with ‘dysfunctional‘. Then I thought about it, most of my friends are a 2.4 children family. Mum & Dad sitting at home cosy together, still happily pretending to be in love. Everyone doing well at school or university and everyone getting along thanks to the rules. So why would they relate to this character? They wouldn’t.

Tyler Hawkins is a man who has been sleepwalking his way through life. He has no direction, no plans. He has unresolved issues that he can never sort out. He also has a near zero relationship with his dad. Tyler is turning 22 the same age his brother Michael was when he killed himself, he is feeling the bitterness & hurt from the fact that life hasn’t turned out how he wanted it to or expected it to. People these days are too happy being normal to understand this character. But he strikes a chord with me. Lord knows I don’t give a monkeys about Rpat and Twilight. However I do give a monkeys about Tyler Hawkins. I’m 22, no direction, no plans, no job, a zero relationship with my dad. I see how this guy lives, day by day, just being himself & not caring about anything. I wait everyday for opportunity knocks but it never comes. Then I see him die. I see him die at my age, with his whole life in front of him. I’ve always known and appreciated the fragility of life. Yet it hits harder when you see this guy fall in love, then mend bridges & when he finally gets on track, it’s over. It’s scary to think I could be that guy. No-one on September 11th 2001 knew what was going to happen. They didn’t know that there was no more time for them to live & right all their wrongs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to start going on peace making missions with everyone I’ve ever had a quarrel with. I have no intention or never have of having a relationship with my dad. But it does make me think again, about the people I care about now. Make sure you make every day count, make sure you don’t leave anything un-said, take risks, don’t be afraid, seek out your dreams & don’t be embarrassed to tell someone you love them. For one day it will be too late. You get one life and it’s a short one. I speak for myself when I say I can’t be wasting it wondering what if ?

We cannot guarantee anything. On Ally & Tyler’s first date, Ally said that she has to have her dessert first because she cannot guarantee that she will be alive to eat it last. It’s a scene that punches me in the face when you realise what Tyler’s fate is. She says ‘an asteroid might hit the restaurant before she gets to have her dessert’. For her she has to have her dessert first, but that’s just a subtle yet incredible way of saying do what you need or want to do most NOW for later may never come. For other’s it might be tell someone how you feel , go to a certain country , live out a particular dream. There’s no use in me going to university for three years to get a degree I don’t care about if an asteroid hits the building the day before I finish. Do something you care about while there is time! Ally asks Tyler to guarantee her it won’t happen and she’d eat her dessert last. He couldn’t. Because we can’t guarantee anything.

I fail to see the point where people are saying that the twist was ‘insulting’ & ‘offensive’. First off I clocked the twist as soon it said ‘10 years later’ from 1991. Why else would the film be set in 2001 if 9/11 wasn’t going to have something to do with it?
I find it offensive that people are saying that it would have been better if Tyler was murdered or run over. What about families who have lost loved ones to that kind of incident? Remember Me is there to show that although 9/11 was a national disaster, the people who died were individuals and not just statistics. The whole point is for us to watch a normal family with issues & problems (maybe just like our own) & finally getting them resolved to then realise they are now one of the 3000 odd stories that could have been told.

Tyler’s death ultimately allows everyone else to live. The last family member was the one who he at first wanted nothing to do with. His dad says to him ‘I may be a while’ and Tyler’s last words to him are ‘That’s fine’. Tyler had been waiting for his dad to be back in his life for a long time, and in the end he will have to wait forever, however his dad now knows that it was okay. Tyler didn’t mind waiting knowing that his dad was with the one person Tyler probably loved more than himself. Caroline. She was getting bullied & with Tyler frightening the bullies by throwing the Fire Extinguisher through the classroom door & her Dad back in her life, she can now move on. His dad has now become a better father, and after seeing the photographs on his dad’s computer Tyler died knowing that he was loved by his dad. (Of course his dad will also seek comfort in knowing he rebuilt his relationship, however doesn’t know that Tyler saw the photographs, this may make him make more of an effort with Caroline to ensure she always knows he loves her). Tyler’s best friend Aiden is seen now working hard on his studies & has now got a tattoo dedicated to Tyler, mirroring Tyler’s tattoo to his dead brother Michael. Then finally Ally, the girl who Tyler fell in love with. Unexpectedly but a person he needed in his life to bring out his heart. She can now use the subway after the murder of her mother 10 years previously. Realising that death can take you at any moment, no matter who you are or where you are & you cannot be scared of it.

I’ve always had issues with death. I’ve always wanted to be remembered. It scares me to think I will live but one day people will never realised I even existed. This film has shown me a new light. Maybe I don’t have to do anything significant or special to be remembered. I don’t have to be David Beckham or Elvis to live after I die. Just be myself & my actions will make a difference to peoples lives & they will remember.

Remember Me is more than the twist. It is a film about 9/11, but the twist is there to make you sit up and realise you have just watched a story of an individual. Remember 9/11 but Remember Tyler. Remember each individual & their story. Remember they touched people’s lives. Infact Remember every individual who has ever died. Whenever. However. They had families, and hopes and dreams. Just like me & you. For us it’s not too late.

‘Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it. Because nobody else will. Like when someone comes into your life and half of you says you're nowhere near ready, but the other half says: make her yours forever.’