Draft Review by Rachael Saunders

Inspired by the tragic death of her sisters’ friend and colleague, Maiken Davidson’s short film highlights the topic of mental illness well and handles it with great sensitively. Positioning the sudden deterioration of Fredalyne King’s mental health as the central point to this touching film, Remember Me demonstrates just how unexpected the decline of mental health can be. The let down of this film is the lack of charisma in King’s voice as she describes her friendship with Anna Martorana’s character, taking away some of the sentiment from the film’s plot. The production team, however, manage the issue with confidence and compassion and are able to shed a new, much needed light on something so misunderstood.

This film is the tale of two close friends, when one of them passes away, how does the other handle it? Remember me starts off with the almost awkward scene of Kate (King) in bed, waking up and rushing around when realising the time. When watching the film, you struggle to understand why this scene is even here, with no relevance at all, it just sets the audience up for a different genre of film completely.

Cut to an outside shot, of a town and King’s character along side Martorana’s walking around, seemingly happy. Although it is not at first 100% clear as to whom the voice of the voiceover belongs to, one thing’s for certain, the dull, dreary tone is enough to put anyone into a coma. The film continues with Kate and Ashleigh (Martorana) playing hide and seek, and Ashleigh disappearing into a flash of light, it is only then that it is clear to the audience that she has no longer there, and that she has actually passed away. Other than that, the earlier hints, with her character fading away and times when she wasn’t on screen at all just look like very poor cuts.

With a very indefinite ending, the audience is left slightly unsure as to what Kate is going to do next; there is no real ending here. Just, Kate’s explanation of the last three months, this could have been what Davidson was looking for, and

Martorana invests her role as King’s deceased friend with little emotion, with both actors’ tones managing to make a highly moving script seem empty and impassive. There is certainly much promise from King, however, she seems to save any feeling she has for her break-down scene, in which is the only part in the film, when she shows any passion for the script, and her character.