Photographic Memory (2011) User Reviews

A critical message for Netflix subscribers

[The_late_Buddy_Ryan · 7/10 · 21 May 2013]

Now that McElwee's comic masterpiece, "Sherman's March," is available again on streaming Netflix, I'd definitely go for that one first if you haven't seen it. "Sherman" is a one-of-a-kind mockumentary (and not a documentary about Sherman or his march, btw, in the conventional, Ken Burns sense), and if it resonates with you at all, I suspect you'll be a fan for life. "Photographic Memory" is a watchable but distinctly lesser work—a modest, autumnal meditation on aging, parenting and memory. A brief prologue fills us in on McElwee's tense relationship with his talented but unfocused teenage son, Adrian, then, with the help of funding from a couple of regional film boards, McE returns to the little town in Brittany where, as a VW-bus-driving college dropout, he worked as an apprentice wedding photog in the early 70s. Suffice it to say that the trip is uneventful (Adrian refused to go along b/c it sounded too boring), and McElwee's deadpan patter isn't up to his usual standard. He does better in his native North Carolina, where he doesn't have to try to speak French. "Bright Leaves," a rambling but entertaining doc about the tobacco culture in NC, is also available on streaming.

Father & Son

[shark-43 · 5/10 · 26 May 2013]

I am a big fan of Ross McElwee's work - SHERMAN'S MARCH is brilliant and I've seen & enjoyed all of his other documentaries. While recently sick & laid up in bed, I was thrilled to discover this on Netflix. While I enjoyed it, the film is so slight, so scattered that in the long run one feels like "meh". I know his son is 21 and that is a tough age but Adrian comes off rather spoiled and in fact, I couldn't help but feel that the main reason Ross went back to France was to just get away from his surly,pampered texting son. There are nice moments about memory & youth & getting old but this is definitely the weakest entry in his body of work. (Just play Cat Stevens' Father & Son instead).....

dull at best and frustrating because of potential

[twincitytony · 5/10 · 6 June 2013]

we are presented with a father son relationship, within 2 minutes you wish to throttle the son, 3 more the father. the son is a self-entitled ne'er do well, the father sees the son as extremely talented but has done nothing so far to prove it. and of course the father blames himself, for all the wrong reasons. The son would like to live in a penthouse and have a helicopter, he is 21 mind you. this is what 8 year olds say, the son has 20,000 worth of electronics and is whining about the car he drives, he has no job it appears, pays no rent of course. If this film does anything it does show everything that is wrong with America. no ultimatums given concerning work or school, the reason i was attracted to the movie was i was in France driving a vw about the same time he was there, this is the second part of the movie, he feels if he goes back in time he will understand why his son is a jerk, because that is what he is, why, because he can be, whose fault dads, the dad who didn't put consequences on bad behavior. this is why we have 40 year old men living with there mothers by the millions mind you, the chance of these kids competing with third world kids coming here, its laughable, there is old romance thats brought up nothing interesting there, he has a disconnected narrating style, as if he is on seroquel.