This wasn’t supposed to happen! Memoria would never appear on your television, let alone your smartphone. And yet, without warning, the Tilda Swinton drama that slices and arranges ghost stories, science fiction, slow cinema, and travelogues into a peculiar, sinewy delicacy is now available to stream on MUBI.
Rather than attempt to explain Memoria’s unexplainable plot, I’ll instead provide you two bits of knowledge ahead crucial before your viewing. First, Memoria won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, making it one of the most anticipated films of 2021. Actually seeing Memoria that year was a tremendous and intentional challenge.
In 2019, months before the pandemic shutdown (and years before the film would even screen at Cannes) the U.S. film distributor NEON announced Memoria would one day receive a release that resembled a traveling art exhibit. The film would, in the distributor’s words, move “from city to city, theater to theater, week by week, playing in front of only one solitary audience at any given time.” After the pandemic and Cannes, NEON made a slight compromise, allowing the film to run simultaneously at a few theaters across the country, though still traveling across cities and in theaters in perpetuity.
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“For Memoria, [the] cinema experience is crucial or maybe the only way. Let’s embrace the darkness and dream, one at a time,” said the film’s director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Neon had no plan to release the film on home video or streaming platforms.
I had a chance to see Memoria during the 2021 screenings. It played at my local art house for a week or two before moving elsewhere in its journey. The film was hypnotic, challenging, and, for some in the theater, more sleep-inducing than a bottle of NyQuil. But for those patient (and caffeinated) enough, it offered rich rewards, including an ending that… well, you’ll see.
The film’s obsession — both inside (the story) and outside (the direction) — made great use of theater sound systems. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that rarity came at the cost of availability. As a kid who grew up in the Midwest and had little access to art house releases, the distribution felt like an unintentional step backward for cinephiles.
You weren’t supposed to watch Memoria on your TV, but I’m so glad you can now! This is the best of both worlds. We got the inventive years-long theatrical run. And now anybody can enjoy the film. Just, please, put on some nice headphones.