Generally speaking, a viewer represents something of a blank canvas – entering in to a project mostly unenlightened, hoping to be inspired, to become immersed in a narrative and to inhabit a whole new world. It’s what allows Omer Fast’s experimental feature Remainder to be so absorbing, as our entry point is a blank canvas himself, in a tale of a man who loses his memory after being struck by a falling object in a freak accident. He attempts to rediscover his life just as we are, allowing for the viewer to embody the role and go on this journey alongside him.
Tom Sturridge plays the aforementioned victim, who, in somewhat frantic fashion, is scurrying around London looking for a cab, suitcase in hand, before an object crashes through a glass ceiling above him and knocks him unconscious. Upon waking up he has no memory of what occurred prior to the incident, but when discovering from his lawyer that he’s owed a hefty compensation, he utilises his newfound affluence to employ Naz (Arsher Ali) to assist him in, quite literally, reconstructing his past.
There’s something almost otherworldly and ethereal about this piece, and yet the unrealistic portrayal of London life remains somewhat jarring. Though the surrealism is prevalent, there are too many overly theatrical moments, like the generic bent cops threatening people with guns tucked into their trousers, or the homeless man who punches our protagonist in the face. It’s all implemented to evoke a sense of sympathy and compassion from the audience, but all it does is push us further away as it’s so difficult to believe in.
Fast lives up to his namesake and hurries through a myriad of themes, all becoming too convoluted in the process. We aren’t only expected to invest in the hero, but of the supporting cast too, with too many characters introduced, each with their own agenda and it becomes a struggle to keep on top of it all. Perhaps the filmmaker could have taken a leaf out of Eskil Vogt’s book, and presented this title similarly to how the Norwegian filmmaker did with his recent endeavour Blind – to blur the sense of reality for the viewer, and treat this instead as an internalised monologue of sorts, remaining simplistic and keeping it very enclosed on this one lead character – except we deviate as far away from simplicity as you could imagine.
But there remains plenty to admire about this intriguing, resourceful endeavour as a film that will undoubtedly stick with you and play on your mind for days to come. Though to be honest, a lot of that will just be attempting to make sense of it all, and figure out exactly what just happened.
Remainder is out in cinemas and on VOD now
