babybuletgani Review of Memory: The Origins of Alien

Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)

As far as #hottakes go, it's as highfalutin as they come

[8/10 · 14 December 2019]

As far as #hottakes go, it's as highfalutin as they come. But Phillipe connects the dots in convincing fashion, drawing a line from the Furies of Greek mythology to the chestburster-influencing imagery of Francis Bacon, via the unspoken patriarchal guilt of the '70s. Rather than a straightforward making-of then, Memory is more concerned with the literature, art, ideas and dreams that fuelled Alien's filmmaking hydra: director Ridley Scott, xeno-designer H.R. Giger and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, whom Philippe credits as the film's creative lynchpin. Multiple talking heads contribute, from commentators and critics to filmmakers and a handful of cast members. But while the absence of Giger and O'Bannon was unavoidable, the lack of new input from Scott and Sigourney Weaver leaves it feeling like a major piece of the puzzle is missing. Philippe's previous film, 78/52, was an impressively forensic dissection of Psycho's iconic shower scene. Here, a significant chunk of the punchy runtime is dedicated to the peerless chestburster sequence. But by slipping into more conventional behind-thescenes territory it temporarily forgets what makes Memory so, well, memorable.