When I look back and reminisce on my earliest memories, there is only one that is clear as day to me. I remember sitting on a carpeted floor, inches away from a tube TV. The carpet was white and so uniquely comfortable that I can almost recreate the feeling in my fingers as if I’m brushing them through it right now. The couch is behind me, supporting my back as I watched “Barney & Friends” for the thousandth time. In that memory, the television is the centerpiece of the whole room. Its faux wood paneling covers the outline of the screen with a ZENITH logo sitting right above the bottom paneling, turning the Z into a lightning bolt that underlines the entire word.
I remember that TV more vividly than what I had for breakfast last Tuesday. It’s incredible how much that TV left an impression on me as a child, especially when I consider the amount of TVs that have circulated through my family since that old Zenith TV went out of commission. That isn’t uncommon though. Whether it’s a family heirloom or an old toy, it’s surprising to see what objects have left impressions on people over the years. In an age where nostalgia seems to be used as an easy way to establish an audience for a reboot of a cartoon or a remake of a film, I think we tend to forget that, for some people, nostalgia isn’t tied to that time they saw “Star Wars” for the first time. To others, something as simple as an old blue button can be enough to bring back fonder memories of meeting the love of their life or buying the house that they’ve lived in for nearly 50 years.
It’s that type of sentiment that is the center of Mark Pellington’s “Nostalgia,” a drama that follows loosely connected stories dealing with objects and the memories that come with them. For nearly two hours, Pellington shows us the effects inanimate objects can have on people, especially when tied to a family’s personal history. On one hand, an impulse buy can end up being a godsend, leaving century-old documents unharmed during a tragic event. However, an object can also leave a person stunted, creating a wedge between the family that only wants to see the person look to the future instead of at the past. The film comes with three stories of tragedy and reflection and while each story doesn’t have the same amount of time to tell itself, the film does a good job of keeping each one consistently interesting while never losing its pacing.
The film deals with a variety of ideas involving the sentimentality tied to seemingly replaceable objects. The first story follows an insurance agent (played by John Ortiz) as he inspects the cluttered abode of an old crotchety Bruce Dern at the request of Dern’s granddaughter, hoping that there is something in that mess that can be saved. The second story follows Ellen Burstyn’s Helen as she tries to decide what to do with the only surviving objects of the fire that destroyed her house, leaving her with some jewelry and a signed baseball that meant the world to her deceased husband. The third and final story follows Jon Hamm’s Will, an emotionally distant collector that ends up having to deal with much more than just the remnants of his parent’s house. While problems in the writing keep the performances from being memorable, the overall ensemble (especially Hamm and Burstyn) do a really good job with what they’re given.
In retrospect, the film with deals with so many intriguing ideas that it becomes obvious early on that separate feature films could be made on just one of those ideas alone. The film never feels like it’s trying to add anything to the ideas presented, only reintroducing them to the audience.
What do these objects say about the owners? Are they worth the heartache? For future generations, how will we keep their memories if those sentimental moments are less tangible?
These are just a few questions that are really interesting to think about yet are never enhanced by the film. I believe one of the reasons why this happens is because of the script. The majority of the film’s characters seem weirdly distant from the world, feeling like they’re more interested in spouting the musings of the screenwriter than actually letting their emotions connect with the situations. The film does have more genuine emotional moments as it progresses but they feel too few for a film like this. The emotional distance in the script only seems to work when it comes out of Jon Hamm’s Will, a character who seems to actively want to forget about the mementos his parents have left behind in order to move on with his life. Thankfully, the film never feels pretentious because of the script. It just feels more like wasted potential than anything.
Similar to the script, the cinematography and editing are all over the place. The cinematography ranges from stylish and well done to odd and way too shaky. The editing, on the other hand, gets the job done yet doesn’t do a great job of showing when one story ends and one story begins. While the script certainly plays a role in this confusion, it took me nearly half an hour to realize that the connections from story to story are less concrete than I initially anticipated. It almost feels like a six degrees of separation game, making you curious as to which one-time encounter is going to lead into the next story. In terms of viewing the film, it sounds a lot more fun than it actually is.
As the ending song played the credits off, I started to think about what the film had accomplished. While the film has ideas that are never elaborated on, and weird technical issues, I believe that it does accomplish the goal of being an entertaining experience. A really good ensemble, moments of cinematic style, and the occasional emotional moment create a film about nostalgia that is flawed but relatable. It isn’t worth seeing at full price but it is worth checking out in the future. In the end, it made rethink my ties to past objects and made me reevaluate a current situation involving my great-grandparents’ things. While I’ll probably forget about the film in the next few months, I think that accounts for something.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97YwKGrq00s]