Forgetting the Girl (2012) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Nate Taylor
Starring: Christopher Denham, Lindsay Beamish, Elizabeth Rice
Rated: UR/Region: 1/Widescreen/Number of disc: 1
Available from Film Movement
Haunted by a traumatic history, photographer Kevin Wolfe (Christopher Denham) struggles to systematically forget all his bad memories, but erasing his past threatens to consume his future. Kevin is obsessed with finding a girl who can help him forget his unpleasant past. However, all his encounters with the opposite sex inevitably go afoul, creating more awkward experiences than he can cope with. As the rejections mount, Kevin’s futile search for happiness and love becomes overwhelmingly turbulent, forcing him to take desperate measures. Shot in a variety of NYC locales, from Hell’s Kitchen to Greenpoint, Forgetting the Girl is a gritty vision of the city and its denizens. The tightly-woven drama blends recollections with reality to craft an intense character study of the psychologically-scarred protagonist. As beautiful as it is dark, the tense narrative slowly boils under the surface until it unleashes an unsettling climax that will not be easily forgotten.
Kevin has a screw or two loose and it doesn’t take us long as dive deep inside the head of this young man to figure that info out. He spends his days taking photos of models and actresses and he from time to time asks them out and usually blows it all while his wacky assistant is there to keep a crush on him and watch. It sounds like some plucky romantic scenario, but things turn dark pretty quick and keep that tone as we roll along just waiting for the hammer to drop. And in the third act the hammer does indeed drop and just how dark things are getting gets very clear.
We also have the side plot of out leading man trying to remember his sister as he tries to forget pretty much every other women he comes across. It is a slow moving film in a lot of ways, but it keeps things just interesting enough to hold you there until the end. I don’t know if the film will attract everyone who comes across it, but I do think there will be those who can greatly appreciate what the film brings to the table overall. I think the acting might be the strongest part of the movie and it makes things better than it would have been without the strong leads and characters.
– Deleted Scenes
– Commentary
– Five Web Videos
– Trailer
