MEMORY LANE

For a change, us Brits appear to have got a release of a much-lauded film long before our American counterparts did. Indeed, Monster Pictures released MEMORY LANE in an impressive 2-disc DVD set in March 2014 - just over a year ago.

Now, America catches up with Wild Eye Releasing's own DVD.

As for the film...

Nick (Michael Guy Allen) is a former soldier who still carries the mental scars of having fought in Afghanistan. He's not doing so well since retiring from the US armed forces until he takes a drive one evening and spies Kayla (Meg Barrick) about to launch herself over a local bridge.

He saves her from herself and the pair quickly become an item. To say their relationship is unconventional is something of an understatement. The sex seems straightforward enough, but their other activities (her casually stealing his car, and him even more casually forgiving her, for instance) not so.

Regardless, Kayla is clearly just the tonic the troubled Nick needs. So much so that he surprises both her and his slacker pals by suddenly buying a dilapidated property for the pair to move into. His mates pop round to help renovate it, hardly thinking to question his rash decision-making or the fact that his new girlfriend appears to be constantly on edge.

Alas, the fun comes to an end just as briskly when Nick discovers Kayla dead in their new house's bathtub a short while later. It looks as though she finally ended her own life. But, upon being saved from a similar suicide attempt by his buddies, Nick reveals that his near-death experience afforded him a glimpse into an alternate reality where he could decode previous events more clearly: this leaves him with the belief that Kayla may not have been suicidal at all, and that she may have been murdered.

It's a measure of his friends, then, that they agree to set up a bathtub-cum-suicide/resuscitation chamber in his garage which enables them to oversee Nick's subsequent bids to briefly 'die' over and over in a quest to discover the facts surrounding his whirlwind romance's demise. But what good can come of such actions...?

MEMORY LANE gathered steam on the word-of-mouth circuit as a film that was made for the measly sum of $300. While it's clearly shot on digital format and does suffer from occasional bleaching and blown-out visuals, it's realistic to say this is a prime example of what can be achieved stylistically with hardly any resources whatsoever.

It looks very good for a lot of the time. This is largely thanks to sharp editing and keen photography. For a sci-fi film, the DX and locations are wisely never overly ambitious: the film focuses instead on characters and relationships. The interesting premise - an amalgamation of MEMENTO, PRIMER, FLATLINERS and SOURCE CODE - works within such confines, while the performances (from a non-professional cast) are all pretty decent.

Bolstered by an agreeably short 70-minute running time, writer-director Shawn Holmes' MEMORY LANE is never a chore to sit through. But there are drawbacks: the central is too barmy to be convincing; Nick's obsession is hard to get a handle on as a result. So, emotional investment doesn't register highly on this particular radar.

The grungy, slacker opening scenes may alienate some too. But stick with it because MEMORY LANE starts quietly and then gathers momentum right up until its satisfying albeit predictably offbeat climax. Stick around too for some brief behind-the-scenes footage during the closing titles.

Wild Eye Releasing's region-free DVD presents the film uncut and in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The picture is enhanced for 16x9 televisions and looks very good, considering the film's extremely low budget and limited resources. Blacks remain strong throughout; images are crisp and detailed. Colours are warm, only suffering from drabness in darker scenes. That's more likely indicative of the way the film was shot on standard-definition digital equipment. The transfer looks a little superior in terms of colour and sharpness than that on the Monster Pictures' UK release.

English 2.0 audio offers a mostly reliable track. It's good for the most part, certainly clean enough. But occasionally dialogue does sound a little muffled or low in the mix. The UK release had the same issues and these are inherent of the manner in which the audio was recorded.

This disc opens to a static main menu page. There is no scene selection menu but you can use your remote control handset to fast-forward/rewind through 8 chapter-stops during the film.

Holmes provides an informative, interesting commentary track. This is a worthwhile undertaking for anyone interested in making movies. There's a refreshing candour to Holmes' patter and he's not precious about sharing some simple tricks of the trade. Writer, director, producer, audio technician, cinematographer ... Holmes pretty much did everything technical on the film and is justifiably proud of his "inexpensive" efforts. Amazingly, $280.00 of the $300.00 budget was spent on feeding the cast...

The fun continues with both teaser and theatrical trailers for the film.

A 55-second promotional video aimed at securing funding through Kickstarter follows. The scheme was, as you've probably guessed from the final budget, unsuccessful...

3 minutes of deleted scenes appear next, and are of minor interest. They add little to the bigger picture.

Screen tests and footage from Allen's audition are warmly received.

Even better are two early, semi-experimental short films from Holmes entitled 'Rockabye' and 'Lamp Post'. These are weird, but highly watchable.

All of the above bonus features (plus additional interviews and a short featurette on the FX) are featured in the UK release. But, as mentioned above, the picture quality on the main feature is superior here.

So ... MEMORY LANE is a great no-budget film which, I've just proven, stands up to repeat viewings. Which release you invest in, really is your choice as both have their benefits...

By Stuart Willis