One That Slipped By

What's been your most recent experience of a movie gem that slipped by you on its release? How did you uncover this hidden treasure? Recommendation? Accident while channel surfing? Your favorite blogger, aka fellow film buff, stumbling across it on a flight to L.A.?   

A good friend was telling me how she wasn't at all enticed to see one of the recently announced Academy Award nominees for best picture. Because this happens to me routinely - I still haven't seen either Lord of the Rings or Dune - my movie-saturated brain involuntarily began scanning for a recommendation for her that qualifies as an under-the-radar jewel. Anyone seen Memory, a late-in-2023 release starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard? 

The last movie I can readily recall featuring side-by-side central performances as strong as Memory - with a script to match - was the justly praised You Can Count on Me (2000) starring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. The difference? Both Linney and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan were recognized for their work on the earlier film. Memory got little enough attention that it took this indiscriminate geek completely by surprise. Although I love when this happens, considering how many truly terrible movies get released - some even praised, for heaven's sake - it's still mystifying to me when a film like Memory is overlooked. 

For the record, I like Bradley Cooper's acting. But giving Brad/Leonard a best actor nomination last year for Maestro (did anyone really need to see him sweating profusely in those torturously long close-ups?) while bypassing Peter Sarsgaard's subtly nuanced performance in Memory strikes me as hero or hunk worship or something.