Mark Kosturose I saw this film at the Santa Cruz Film Festival and it was interesting. Within the first fifteen minutes of the film, I was annoyed, almost angered at the content, found myself actually sort of wanting to leave. Fortunately, I didn't because the way things came together was actually heart-warming in the most unexpected of ways. It gave me similar sensations as the first time I was watching Festen/Celebration and Big Lebowski. It's a different movie, but there are similar qualities. Watch the film if you get a chance, it's worth reaching out for, and be patient through the beginning, and you won't be disappointed.Here is a story about the film: Christopher Jaymes wrote In Memory of My Father, the opening night feature at this year's Santa Cruz Film Festival, in five days and shot it in four. That nearly impossible schedule was a consequence of his friend David Austin (who plays the dying Hollywood mogul in the film's title) asking if James, who had just returned from a three-month trip to Southeast Asia, could write a screenplay for a film they could shoot on location at a mansion once owned by Samuel Goldwyn, which Austin was about to sell. The resulting dark comedy has since gone on to win awards at a slew of festivals across the country.So how did Jaymes manage to produce Miramax-quality results on an Ed Wood schedule?"Well, some people might still think it is Ed Wood," says Jaymes of the famously failed B- movie director, "but hopefully not too many. Yeah, it was definitely out of necessity, not out of trying to prove something. But the payback came in post-production. It was a real challenge to cut the film together because we weren't able to scope every single shot perfectly, and we couldn't go back to re-shoot. So hence, it kind of gives it a little more of that 'Ooh, indie hand-held, let's go and be arty!' kind of thing. But you know, I think it sort of works with the film."Working both sides of the camera, Jaymes plays the brashly impudent youngest of three sons, whose father bribes him into filming his death and the effect it has on his family, who are by and large too self-absorbed to pay much attention to their beloved corpse ex ma-china.Jaymes' skewering of Hollywood industry scions draws upon years of living in Southern California, where he got his start playing guest roles in sitcoms and the odd "enjoyably awful TV movie."Unlike many other young writer/directors, Jaymes has no family connections (he was raised by his mother, a doctor's office manager, in Huntington Beach) and opted to study music at Berklee instead of going to film school.A musician, as well? "Yeah, that's subjective too," he laughs. "I did study and I was kind of obsessive about it for a period of time. And I toured for a little while as a piano player."As it turns out, Jaymes toured backing rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson, who for all intents and purposes is the closest thing this world has to a female Elvis Presley. "Yeah, one night after she decided that she liked me, she took me aside, we hung out and she put Elvis's ring on my hand," he enthuses. But unlike the pink Cadillacs Elvis used to hand out, this gesture wasn't for keeps. "No, she took it back," he admits. "I thought I was special for a minute."Self-deprecating as he may appear, Jaymes' star is clearly rising. He recently signed a distribution deal that will allow him to retain the Belle & Sebastian tracks in the film, and no less an indie film heavyweight than Allison Anders has compared Jaymes' debut to the films of Cassavetes and Altman (although Jaymes claims to be more of a Bunuel fan himself).When two other cinematic examples of men behaving badly--Neil LaBute's In the Company of Men and David Rabe's Hurlyburly--are offered up, Jaymes says that while he enjoyed both films, he feels more of a kinship with the latter."With Hurlyburly, I think you actually can care about some of these people by the end," says Jaymes. "I think with the Neil LaBute film, it was more like, 'Look how awful people are to each other.' But with In Memory of My Father, it's like, 'Look how self-absorbed we are. Jesus Christ, how come we don't know better?'

ryan gomes Filmmaker Christopher Jaymes seeks to capture how narcissism behaves. The result is an honest depiction of struggling with the inability to see outside of oneself—to be so blind that one is unable to recognize the life occurring around them. In Memory of My Father follows a son trying to grant his father's dying wish. The father is a Hollywood filmmaker who is no different than the rest of the characters in the film—bloated with his own ego. His belief that his death would shake the film community generates his final cinematic idea. He bribes his youngest son, Chris (played by Christopher Jaymes) to document the journey of his fading life. Whether the documentary ever is completed is up for the audience to decide but the father's death becomes secondary as we become further involved in the worries of the numerous characters' neurosis, careers, and relationships. The family consists of the three sons, Christopher, Jeremy (Jeremy Sisto), and Matt (Matt Keeslar). Each is dysfunctional in their own unique way. Their family unit is not a Norman Rockwell painting but isn't devoid of love and compassion either. The binds of blood tend to prevail as each of them attempt to find their way through the wreckage and into unknown possibilities by the end of the film. The large Hollywood home becomes filled to the brim with "mourners" who feel more alive from someone else's death. The various situations demand the audience's attention due to each character's commitment to the severity of their individual circumstances. In the span of the film, Jaymes deals with nearly every personal struggle of man: the search to expose and accept individual flaws; falling in and out of love at the press of a button; unapologetically begging for the attention; or realizing you are not who you thought you were and to not know who you are going to become. The film vibrates with life. So much occurs throughout the film that to say it is about the bonds of family, life, death, love, and fear would be an injustice. Questions were asked and human nature was philosophized with one brilliant conclusion. As Christopher is crumbled to the floor and held together by Nicholle's arms she states, "I don't know anyone who is meant to be in a relationship." Her statement bears the weight of yet another question to ponder. Are we even meant to have a relationship with ourselves? Maybe yes or maybe no. But we can all draw from personal experience that relationships with ourselves can be just as dysfunctional as the bond with other human beings.

filmjim-2 "Memory" is an ensemble work that explores the lives of three sons as they host a wake for their father. Daddy dearest, an absentee father who put his Hollywood career ahead of his family, lies in state in the master bedroom and the lives of his sons are dissected as they intersect with each other throughout the manor. Writer, producer and director Christopher Jaymes was given the opportunity to shoot a film in a Hollywood mansion that had once belonged to Samuel Goldwyn. He turned out a script in a whirlwind five days. A film that started as a place-specific opportunity turned into a people- oriented investigation into basic human themes of love, lust and loss. It helped that Jaymes had friends in mind for the cast — including Jeremy Sisto (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Judy Greer ("The Village," Fox's "Arrested Development") and Matt Keeslar ("Waiting for Guffman", "Scream 3"). Like a more manic version of "American Beauty," "Memory" is alternately hysterical and heartbreaking, as the audience watches these men make life-altering decisions under the worst possible circumstances. Suppressing their feelings of inadequacy and emotional abandonment, they show no grief at the loss of their father, but instead turn on themselves, openly acknowledging their inability to have healthy relationships. Jaymes turns the distinctive look of digital video and hand-held camera shots to his favor as he conjures up feelings of surreal imbalance and real intoxication that come with a bacchanalian wake. The audience experiences the claustrophobic feelings of having one something too many and staying up far too late, becoming a prisoner on one's own home waiting for people to realize it's time to go home. In the spirit of a Robert Altman slice of life, however, the finale is not tied up neatly. After the party is over, the hosts are left alone to clean up various messes, mostly those they themselves have created.

cloudfrench Nothing in this film was what I expected...and I loved it. I was absolutely thrilled by the absurdity of it all. It's like what Tarantino tried to do right out of the gate and with any luck, Christopher Jaymes' future films will be just as unforgiving and delightfully "wrong" as this one.An ingenious parody of a dysfunctional family at their dead movie mogul father's circus of a wake, documented by his youngest son and attended by numerous less-than-grateful relatives and suckling sycophants. Family members and friends seem to bypass grieving altogether and plunge headlong into self-centered yet fashionable breakdowns, leaving each messy little life raw and exposed. Don't expect anything in this movie to be neatly tied up with a bow, neither life nor death are like that.The film is full of wonderful performances from untainted actors, refreshingly organic dialogue and surprising reveals that keep you guessing for its full run. This movie is certain to go down in history as one of the least "Hollywood" movies ever made about what living, breathing and dying in Hollywood is all about.My recommendation, skip the trailer and go straight to the next screening. I can't wait to see this film again!