Forget Me Not (2011)

An Exercise In Nonsense

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Forget Me Not is a low budget independent romantic drama with an edge with a lot of walking and talking plus a picturesque setting in London.Tobias Menzies is Will and Genevieve O'Reilly as Eve who give understated performances. At first I was convinced that it was Menzies who was also singing the songs but most of them were sung by the writer of the film, Mark Underwood.Will is a singer in a club who meets Eve, a barmaid as he comes to her rescue as she is being hassled by a drunk. They accompany each other as they walk through London and fall for each other. They meet up again the next day as Eve goes to see her grandmother in a home.However the title of the film is no accident. Will in the last act mentions his troubled past and even troubling future. Until he met Eve he saw no purpose in his life and the viewer will feel an emotional impact with his revelation.The film is enhanced with the location shooting in London and it is a good starring role for Tobias Menzies who seems to have carved a niche as the guy who always appears in spy dramas. The actors have a good chemistry with each other, it is a little rough and ready as a low budget film that presumably was filmed quickly, it therefore feels flat in places and even a bit pedestrian.

To give it its due, this is well made (as in well produced) and well acted movie.However it is marred by inclusion of way too many clichés. Tortured and troubled man and woman wondering through the night (or day) talking and having innocent fun and falling in love (or almost falling). Background of nicely photographed cityscapes. It even has man giving up his coat to shivering woman. nice but ...Old hat. Older than movies in fact. Read Dostoevsky's "White nights". Same thing 150+ years ago. (By the way, that work has been adapted several times too). In fact there are so many movies with same formula they should create a definite genre for the type.This one does have sort of a departure from formula at the end, but it is too specific and rare, and gets focus on only at the end. Movie could have made more of it if the full details of what is going on were revealed from the start. Instead movie introduce theme of suicide from the start, and then indulge in rather poor philosophizing on that theme intermittently. That is a poor way to handle such a subject.This is worth watching only if you like this formula, since it is a better example of the type. And only if you do not care too much about philosophy.

A romantic drama by Alexander Holt, "Forget Me Not" stars Tobias Menzies and Genevieve O'Really as a couple who spend several hours roaming the streets of London. They chat, laugh, gaze longingly into each other's eyes and then, finally, share shocking secrets.Wholly clichéd, "Forget Me Not" plays like an amalgamation of "Remember Sunday", "Away From Her", "50 First Dates", "Memento", "Once" and Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise". Elsewhere Holt's attempts at photographing London are mostly inept, the director ignoring London's more interesting nooks and crannies in favour for unimaginative locations deemed "romantic" and "iconic" by tasteless tourist agencies.5/10 – Worth one viewing.

UK producers and directors Alexander Holt and Lance Roehrig's feature film debut which was written by screenwriter and musician Mark Underwood after a story by writers and producers Steve Spence and Rebecca Long, is a UK production which was shot on location in London, England and produced by Rebecca Long. It tells the story about Will Fletcher, a guitarist and singer in his 30s who lives in a flat in London. One night after performing at a bar, Will is interrupted by a screaming woman whilst trying to commit an irrevocable act and runs to her rescue. This sudden event introduces him to a bartender named Eve Fisher.Finely and acutely directed by English filmmakers Alexander Holt and Lance Roehrig, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws an incisive and involving portrayal of a meeting between a musician and a bartender who without any prior knowledge of each other finds a connection. While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions and fine cinematography by UK cinematographer Shane Daly, this character-driven and dialog-driven independent film depicts an in-depth study of character and contains a great score by American composer Michael J. McEvoy.This modestly romantic, charmingly humorous and somewhat existentialistic love-story about a man and a woman who decides to accompany one another during the course of one summer night in London, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, authentic characters and the heartfelt and understated acting performances by English actor Tobias Menzies and Irish actress Genevieve O'Reilly. A tangible, endearing and poignant conversational drama which gained the award for Best Film at the 7th London Independent Film Festival in 2010.