Before I Forget (2007)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Just so...so bad

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I walked out of this film when I sat down to watch it the first time but my film bud told me later that the star also wrote and directed and was a big star in France. That intrigued me so I sat down again to watch the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I could not stop thinking about it primarily because I wondered how a famous French movie star would make such a personal statement about his own life which apparently he does in this film. First off, he's gay, but more than that he's an old gay guy past his prime who gets off with hustlers. This was shocking enough on its own but put in a larger perspective you have to wonder how many guys are just like him and if their lives are as bleak as the life depicted here. Yet, there was such a touch of humanity in the film that I really related to the guy even though I found his entire situation not just sad but tragic. Ultimately, I realized his life is empty because he has not risen above his basic carnal desires to achieve a higher state of being which can only be done either through faith or some philosophy.

I can relate to the main character as an aging Gay male. Although I "escaped" HIV + the main character shows us what it must be like to be aging, remember youth and having AIDS. Although he is bitter in life and can find no outlet for his emotions rather than depending on a "shrink," I think he portrays what many men feel as they age.The younger men cannot relate to how the main character feels because that is what life does is teach us. Then, we age and we learn our lessons. Sadly, we cannot pass these learning experiences on to the others. Life simply doesn't work that way.I would watch the movie again as it has a message for all of us to learn. In a way I think the film is very reflective of French Existentialism.

Like Pierre (Jacques Nolot), I know how difficult it is to get up in the morning and start your day. The hanging flesh a reminder of your advancing age and the splendid youth that is just a fading memory.Pierre is not a happy, or likable man. He sleeps a lot during the day on a ratty couch, bemoans the lovers who have left him, and has no one to relate to as he awaits the cemetery plot he has already chosen. Life is just endless cigarettes and coffee. When visiting with friends they moan about money and constantly complain. He is reduced to paying for sex, which just serves as a reminder of his lost youth.He refuses to increase his HIV treatments because he will lose his hair and "have the face of an Auschwitz victim." Depressing, but a fine performance by Nolot.

I was eager to watch "Before I Forget" given the favorable reviews that I had read. I missed seeing the movie when it was screened in NYC, so I purchased it on DVD. After watching it, I have to say that I'm glad I missed the NYC screening.The plot has been summed up by another reviewer so I don't need to go into details about the plot. My problem with this movie, however, was that I didn't like the main character. He came across as self centered, one dimensional, and uncaring... bitter, but not willing to look at any options.Perhaps, as another reviewer pointed out, gay society in France has fewer supports than gay society in the US or other countries. That might explain the main characters feelings and emotions. But it doesn't change my feelings about the movie.I watched "Before I Forget" on DVD after watching "Paranoid Park", "City of Men" and "3:10 to Yuma". I would gladly sit through any of those movies again (and I don't particularly like Westerns) than watch "Before I Forget" again.As I said in my summary, I found this movie to be a "Pretentious, self centered bore without a single likable character"