Who said teen films on Netflix were only like The Kissing Booth or To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before? The streaming service also is home to the new original Re/Member, a horror flick featuring Japanese teens caught in a time loop game. Adolescent bonding and lesson learning sure take a different tenor, though, when you’re being chased by an eyeless red creature every day until you can solve a mystery!
RE/MEMBER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: What does the disappearance of a young Russian girl in the 1940s have to do with a group of contemporary Japanese adolescents? The cold opening of Re/Member might seem a bit discombobulated, but it sets up the ghost story and murder mystery at the heart of the film. Asuka (Kanna Hashimoto) sees the victim and learns that she must find and reassemble the eight portions of her body that are strewn across her school, all while evading the terrifying eyeless monster known as the Red Person. This game of “Body Search” is not a solitary struggle for Asuka, though, as five other classmates get trapped in a time loop with her until they can solve the puzzle by locating the body parts together. The game brings out a cooperative spirit (not to mention some surprising joy) as they all prepare to get murdered every day. But just as they get close to the finish line, the rules of the game begin to change … throwing everything into doubt.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s Final Destination meets Edge of Tomorrow in a Japanese high school.
Performance Worth Watching: Kanna Hashimoto as the film’s central character Asuka is definitely the standout of the ensemble cast. She really does find the balance between being a quiet, introverted character by nature without becoming entirely a recessive presence.
Memorable Dialogue: “Could life get any better than this?” one of the time loop participants Rumiko exclaims in one of their brief moments of reverie between the games. “If only we didn’t have to get murdered every night,” the once-bullied Shota wryly replies.
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Sex and Skin: Perhaps surprising given that it’s a teen movie, but Re/Member doesn’t involve any overt sexuality.
Our Take: Re/Member has a genuinely interesting and thrilling concept, not to mention a villain that’s straight out of your worst nightmares. (The creature design with no eyes in the sockets, chilling!) But this teen flick falters at the base level of drama as it does not give us nearly enough time with the characters themselves. They don’t map neatly to teen archetypes in a way that gives us an easy shorthand to understand them, nor do they have enough individual characterization to make them compelling just as people. There are enough spectacle and lighthearted moments in this manga adaptation to paper over some of those weaknesses for an entertaining watch. When it comes time for the climactic showdown, however, that lack of investment on a personal level makes a difference in how much (or little, rather) to lean forward into the movie.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Re/Member does not bring anything new to the time loop concept, nor does it particularly satisfy as a teen movie outside its plot gambit. The elements are there for something promising. But by sketching its characters so thinly, it limits just how much an audience can connect to their race against the clock.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.
Watch Re/Member on Netflix
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