Moving film contemplates time, loss
MOVIE REVIEW
One of the first images in “Nostalgia” depicts an heirloom necklace dangling on the neck of a diner waitress.
One of the last images showcases a massive puffy cloud, ever shifting in the wide sky.
Between the symbol of permanence and the symbol of flux is a deeply meditative movie about time, loss and the stuff we fiercely cling to along the way.
“Nostalgia” is thoughtful and lyrical, an unrushed poem with a first-rate cast.
The film, directed by Mark Pellington with a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry, is a mosaic of interconnected stories, linking a grizzled grandfather (Bruce Dern), an insurance assessor (John Ortiz,) a widow (Ellen Burstyn), a memorabilia dealer (Jon Hamm) and his family (including Catherine Keener as his sister).
Ortiz’s patient, empathetic assessor is the glue that connects the first two characters we meet. The first is the grandfather, whose home is filled with personal mementos that are priceless to him but junk to anyone else.
His pregnant granddaughter — the second pregnant woman we see, stressing history and lineage — wants to know everything’s value. But what is the R (for language) 1:54 at the Drexel and Lennox 24 theaters
price of memories? Of old love letters? Of a life lived? When the assessor wants to photograph the grandfather, he shoots back, “I’m not a relic.”
The assessor then visits the widow, whose house has burned down. She had a split second during the fire to save as much as she could, and, after grabbing jewelry, she snatched her husband’s prized baseball.
That ball leads Burstyn to Hamm as she debates what to do with an object that meant so much to her husband but so little to her. It’s just a thing, so why does it have such a gravitational pull? If she sells it, her future is secure, but her family’s connection to it is severed.
“You won’t remember me,” she tells the collector.
Hamm’s character is far less wistful about things. He buys and sells artifacts for a living, after all, and is unsentimental, even when he goes to help his sister clean out their childhood home.
When she complains about the many memories attached to the home, he curtly responds: “Make new ones.”
It’s at this point — roughly halfway through the film — when “Nostalgia” takes a tragic turn and the memorabilia dealer must soon confront his callous views of mementos.
This painful detour into profound grief threatens to warp the film, unbalance it — but stick with it.
Hamm’s character is redeemed in a dumpster.
As for the acting, Burstyn’s complex, haunted heroine is no surprise. But everyone in the movie is excellent.
Ortiz delivers a slightly magical paper-pusher, Keener is a woman broken by sadness as we watch helplessly. And Hamm is as stoic outside as he is broken inside. Some tiny roles are made to sparkle in the hands of Nick Offerman, Patton Oswalt, James Le Gros, Annalise Basso and Mikey Madison.
Much of “Nostalgia” is shot as in a quiet dream, often lingering in the dark shadows. The camera never captures key dramatic events — the house fire, for example — but, rather, the immediate aftereffects. It never flashes back, as you might expect in a movie about memories, but instead, say, lingers on the faces of actors as they process emotions.
“Nostalgia” sometimes takes on the quality of a play, especially in several thought-provoking monologues. But it also features cinematic touches, such as a gauzy trip to Las Vegas.
The film isn’t perfect, but it is moving and sensitive. Viewers are sure to leave with their heads in the clouds and a new view of their precious stuff.