Memories Alone

Spectacular, harrowing, sublime. In one corner we have the The Wrestler, the friendly fighter, the yang, the profane. In the facing corner we have the Black Swan, the neurotic artiste, the yin, the sacred. The two stories grapple and merge, the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

You'll be surprised how many parallels and echoes the two movies have. Darren Aronofsky would be surprised. Q2 has found them all, shuffled them together, the one story refracting and amplifying the other, back and forth, around and around. The two leading characters are worlds apart but they have a believable psychological link. This isn't how a "real" movie would put them together, and you never forget it's a fan mix you're watching, still the creative power is undeniable.

Technical qualities are perfect. Menu and extras are minimal. Concur with Neglify the 140 minute run time feels a little long, on the other hand I've got no suggestion what to cut. Each character goes through a full arc of rise and fall, reaching out and pulling back. Q2 gives the stories room to breathe while cutting big parts from each movie. The wrestler is more of a loner, the swan's world is more dangerous, in both stories the tension is cranked up. Memories Alone is a knock down drag out, come prepared.

This was a really cool edit. The two stories worked perfectly together.

The Good Stuff:

The narrative structure is near perfect.
I didn't care for The Black Swan when I saw it, now I was able to relate to the story and characters more.
Holy hell that ending was perfectly edited.

The Not As Good Stuff:

I personally thought it was about 15-20 minutes too long.

If you're a fan of Aronofsky's work, you'll get a kick out of this.

This is a highly ambitious fanedit, and for the most part it works exceptionally well. The vast majority of the edits are fantastic, and create a strong sense of the parallels that bind these two stories together.

There are clear similarities between the two films, and Q2 does a wonderful job of drawing those similarities out and finding where they sync. It's also easy to believe that these films inhabit a 'shared universe', given that Arinofsky employs alot of handheld camera work in both films, and they both have a gritty realism to them (with the exception of the surreal aspects of black swan).

The larger themes of the two films bond well for the most part, although they didn't draw together at the very end as satisfyingly as I would have hoped for, had these films been intended to be experienced in this parallel way. While there is a powerful symmetry in what the two characters are willing to sacrifice for their art, their reasoning for doing so is quite different, most clearly epitomised in Nina's final line of dialogue - A line that perfectly encapsulates her journey, but doesn't really connect with what Randy the Ram is going through, and his motivations for getting back in the ring. Given that this is the final moment of the film, ideally this would have been a a line that connected the two stories more strongly.

Storywise, I almost could have done without the idea that the Ram is Nina's father. Conceptually it works well, and in the moment with the photograph it is executed successfully. The phone call, however, was not as impactful and the presence of the editor was definitely evident during that scene. It worked, but only just, and required a leap of faith on the viewers part to connect those dots.

Technically the film is excellent. I particularly loved the use of music, and the way it was able to carry across imagery from both films to highlight key emotional moments. There were only one or two audio transitions that felt unnatural or jarring (for example, after Nina puts the toys in the trash), but given how many cuts were made between the films, this is quite an incredible feat.

I would recommend this fanedit. It feels weighty and thoughtful, and certainly highlights what wonderful films The Wrestler and The Black Swan are. Congrats Q2 on an ambitious and intense edit!

Well I just finished watching this. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

I'm a fan of most of Aronofsky's work and enjoyed both The Wrestler and Black Swan. So I went into this fanedit knowing Q2's intention but at the same time not being sure what to expect. Overall I really enjoyed this edit. Some really great choices in terms of how the story goes back and forth between the two characters. Definitely worth checking out.