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Movie Marketing Madness: Remember

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remember_ver4We all deal with the burdens of life in one way or the other. That can mean everything from the daily responsibilities and requirements of life to promises we made years ago that we must now come to terms with and fulfill. It’s part of being in this world and how we relate to others that we sometimes take onto ourselves promises or obligations that aren’t – or at least are not entirely – self-serving but meant to help those around us and give them a sense of peace.

Just that sort of promise and obligation lies at the heart of Remember. In the movie Christopher Plummer plays Zev Guttman, a Holocaust survivor who is comfortably living out his years, though he deals with memory loss. He receives a package from his friend Max (Martin Landau) that reminds him of a promise the two made decades ago: To hunt and kill the camp security guard responsible for killing both their families. With Max unable to do it himself, the job falls to Zev.

The Posters

There were a number of international posters but what I can find to be the official U.S. theatrical one-sheet rightfully puts the focus on Plummer and the emotions of the story. The top of the poster shows Plummer’s hands as he sits on what looks like a window seat, a gun in those hands. The image is overlaid with a few critic quotes praising both the movie as a whole and Plummer’s performance. In the middle is a strip containing the title treatment and the movie’s festival appearance roster. the bottom part of the poster then is Plummer’s face showing some deep, presumably painful emotions. Atom Egoyan’s name is pretty prominent here along with the fact he’s an Academy Award nominee.

The Trailers

The movie’s one trailer does a good job of both showing off the movie’s driving story elements and what looks to be an outstanding performance by Plummer. We see him getting his direction from Laundau’s character and being sent on a mission to track down and kill former Nazis. That is a mission that’s not without its difficulties, both logistically and emotionally as he finds his heart isn’t in it. But as conflicted as he is he finds he must finish the job.

Again, it’s an emotional trailer that, as I said, is really good at showing off the range of Plummer’s work. He looks to be great as an old man who is doing something he finds both necessary and repugnant. The trailer probably plays up some of the shots a bit dramatically with the use of quick cuts and music swells, but the gist of the story comes through.

Online and Social

It’s a pretty simple official website the movie got. The landing page has a recreation of the key art along with notes that it’s already on Direct TV and it coming to theaters this week. There are options there for setting reminders for when tickets are available either through Facebook or actually creating a calendar event, which is a nice touch.

remember pic 1

The “Trailer” section just has the trailer, which is worth watching again. “Synopsis” has a very good write-up of the story and gives you a good idea of what to expect in the movie. Finally “Share” has options to share on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ an invitation for others to watch the movie with you when it’s out and a link for your network to get more information.

I couldn’t find social network profiles specifically for the movie. Nor did I see it getting much attention on A24’s profiles.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

Nothing that I’ve found on either front. As I’m fond of saying, this isn’t exactly the kind of movie that would be a good fit for a Mountain Dew sweepstakes.

Media and Publicity

Plummer talked a bit about the movie and how it fit into his overall body of work and specifically how it was to play this character at this point in his career.

remember pic 2

The film played at a few festivals, specifically those focusing on Jewish movies and stories. So it appeared at themed festivals in Atlanta, San Diego and elsewhere.

Overall

It’s a nice tidy little campaign. You certainly can’t say it doesn’t sell the emotional journey of the movie. In fact there’s so much on display it may turn off some people who aren’t fans of dour, serious stories like this. That’s all well and good, but the campaign also shows off a performance by Plummer that looks like it shouldn’t be missed.

Plummer’s performance is definitely the centerpiece of the campaign, and rightly so I’m guessing. While we can discuss how older actors are too often only given roles that put them in nursing homes or give them some sort of disease to play against he’s got more than enough chops – remember he created a Klingon you actually kind of related to – to take that and create an affecting portrait of someone propelled by duty, even if he’s not always clear what that duty is.

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