NOSTALGIA
US, 2018, 114 minutes, Colour.
Ellen Burstyn, Bruce Dern, John Hamm, Catherine Keener, Joanna Going, Beth Grant, Arie Gross, James Le Gros, Amber Tamblyn, Nick Offerman, John Ortiz.
Directed by Mark Pellington.
Nostalgia is actually three short stories in one with some interlinking. And the stories are, especially, about memories and dealing with memories.
The first story focuses on an investigator, played by John Ortiz, who interviews an old man, Bruce Dern, who has to move from his house and relatives are interested in evaluating what he has.
The second story focuses on Ellen Burstyn. The insurance investigator sees her at the site of her house which is burnt down. There has to be some appraisal of her property and what has survived the fire, including a baseball memento which has some wants. She flies to Las Vegas, this is another investigator, Will (Jon Hamm) and sells him the memento.
The third story focuses on Will, going to California to meet his sister (Catherine Keener) and an appraisal of a property and the mementos inside the house now that their parents have moved to Florida. There is a subplot focusing on the daughter of Catherine Keener, who really has no interest in the property in the business – but then is involved in a tragic accident.
With the theme of memory, there is a rather poignant reminder that in the digital age, so much correspondence, so many memories are kept on computers and the particular fragility that computers can be lost, broken, destroyed – and memories lost.
A thoughtful kind of entertainment.
1. The title? Memories? Longing? Different perspectives for different generations? Souvenirs, memorabilia, things? And the revelation that so many memories were confined to digital – and easily lost or destroyed?
2. The stories, variety of memories, homes, the site of the fire, visits to Las Vegas, California homes and memorabilia? The musical score?
3. The insurance investigator, as a person, his job, philosophy of life, emotional detachment, yet learning from meeting people, realism rather than empathy? With Ed, the discussions about his books, meeting him in his room? The daughter and her husband, the discussions about the property, keeping and dispersing? The encounter with Helen, at the site of the fire, listening to her memories and regrets, meeting the friends who had also experienced fire? His looking, listening, reflecting? The effect of it on him, of Helen?
4. Ed, his age, his books and possessions, the appraisal, the conversation, the daughter, the discussions and reactions, the next generation? Issues of moving, letting go?
5. The site of the fire, the sense of loss, the insurance issues, revisiting the situation of the rooms, Helen and her choices? The baseball and Ned? The family interest, her son? The issue of moving, the insurance payout, the son and his wanting the ball, his discussions with his mother, with his wife? Sense of realism, the conversations? Helen going to Las Vegas, meeting Will, the appraisal, experiencing empathy, his not remembering her in the future, her story?
6. Will, flying home, driving, meeting his sister, their parents moving to Florida, taking what they needed, leaving the rest, the attic, the choices to be made, memories kept, left behind?
7. Sorting through the possessions, their values, keeping them or not, the flashbacks to the past, the children, their parents? The passing of time, souvenirs and values, the conversations between brother and sister?
8. The daughter, promising to help, seeing the memories as junk, the discussions about the LP, downloading music? The rational approach to souvenirs in the 21st-century? Detached?
9. The news of the daughter’s death, the crash, her memories, no digital memories, the destruction of the computer and phone? The mother, her grief, the visitors for the funeral?
10. Friendship, surviving, bonds, blame? The young girl, surviving the accident, the visit to her friend’s parents?
11. Audiences are of different generations and their identifying with the stories?
