Customer Reviews

The Memory of a Killer

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This intelligent, distinctive nail-biter from Belgian director Eric Van Looy puts a fresh twist on the revenge saga with its parallel storylines and a mentally ailing hired killer, superbly played by Decleir, who transforms into a kind of moral hero. As he scales the heights of power looking for the child killer, Angelo's skills and sense of justice remain intact, but with his failing memory, he often lapses into a disorienting haze. By the end, all the pieces click together like a Rubik's puzzle. Bristling with suspense and visual energy, "Killer" is a highly original thriller that will leave a lasting impression.

The Memory of a Killer (Erik van Looy, 2003)

How is it that, until I watched this movie, I had never heard the name Jef Geeraerts, upon whose book this movie is based? There is a crime going on here somewhere, and I mean to find it. If the book is a tenth as good as the film, the English-speaking world has been kept in the dark about one of the best crime writers going today. Yeah, I realize that every once in a while mediocre (or just plain bad) novels get made into great movies, but still, I'm playing the odds on this one. Most movies aren't as good as the books on which they're based, and The Memory of a Killer is a very good movie.

Angelo Ledda (the great Jan Decleir) is a French contract killer who is sent to Belgium to take out a minor official after retrieving a certain metal box from him. Once he has completed that assignment, his contact, Seynaeve (Gene Bervoets) orders him out on a related contract: the murder of a child prostitute, Bieke Cuypers (Laurien Van den Broeck). When Ledda discovers Cuypers' age, he refuses to take the contract, saying no one in his profession will kill a child. That night, on the news, he hears she's been shot, and sets out to find out who was behind the murder and why. Meanwhile, Eric Vincke (Koen de Bouw), a Detective Chief Inspector who was assigned to the Cuypers case, is also trying to figure out who killed Bieke Cuypers. When their paths cross, the game of cat and mouse begins-- will Ledda get to each person higher on the food chain before Vincke? And does Vincke really want to stop him? Complicating matters is the fact that Ledda is slowly sliding into Alzheimer's-related dementia.

There are a great many things to love about The Memory of a Killer, but all discussion of how good the film is must start with Jan Decleir, who quite simply owns this role. Decleir is wonderful as Ledda, the aging killer with a conscience. Everything about him is calm, precise, understated... unless it's not, of course. When Ledda's facade shows signs of wear and tear, that's when you can see how excellent a performance this is. Opposite Decleir you have de Bouw, the harried detective, who's not only chasing a killer who's baiting him, but is encountering resistance from places where it doesn't make sense, not least of all his partner. de Bouw's vision of Vincke as the guy who just puts his head down and bulls his way through, damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead, is just as capable as Decleir's vision of Ledda. This would be a great movie if it were just the two of them sitting in an interview room its entire length (viz. Closetland). But there is a plot to go along with it, and that a police procedural can be fresh and inventive in an age of endless Law and Order clones is impressive in itself. That screenwriter Carl Joos drops the biggest plot twist in such a way that you may not even notice how you've been fooled by this script through its entire length is just brilliant.

I'm not sure I can recommend this movie highly enough. If you haven't yet had the chance to see it, do so at your earliest convenience. **** ½

Set in Belgium, this unusual thriller has as its protagonist an anti-hero--a 57-year old hitman who's beginning to experience symptoms of Alzheimer's. His brother, older and residing in a nursing home, has an advanced form of the same disease. But the hitman, Angelo Ledda, has enough of his wits about him to know what's going on; he does have some slips in memory from time to time, though, and these throw him off, to some extent at least, in the context of remembering what he's just done or where he just was--or who he might have just executed.

The acting is superior; this in combination with a smart storyline with sharp dialogue makes for an engrossing two hours. As is true of many modern noir tales, this one involves corruption in high places, as a result of which murders ensue--some committed by Ledda, some not.

The pacing here is pretty much flawless. The back and forth between the cops, the hitman, and the evil higher-up guys is spot on. This is a great companion piece to the recent French policier "36 Quai des Orfevres" directed by Olivier Marechal which, unfortunately, is not available on DVD here in the US, but is available in a non-region 1 European DVD release.

Highly recommended.

Angelo Ledda (as in Yeats and mythology's swan Leda, he notes) as portrayed by Jan Decleir is a man on the edge. He has spent most of his life as a murderer, most of it paid, some not. But now, as the movie begins, he is in the throes of something way beyond him: Alzheimer's. And for a man who has seemingly always had the details of his life in line during his long, conflicted life...this is not a good thing. Nor is it something that he understands...nor something that he can control. Ledda knows that he is near death and that makes him dangerous and gives him the kind of freedom that only those who are near death possess.
Director Erik Van Looy's "The Memory of a Killer" is basically a policier: a film with layer upon layer of storyline that ultimately come together by way of Angelo, D.C.I. Vincke (a wounded, sad-sack performance by Koen de Bouw) who form a sort of bond based on their shared backgrounds of deserted parents, un-successful love affairs and amazing intellect. What's particularly interesting is that this "relationship" is formed by way of phone calls and crime scene clues left by Angelo. They don't actually meet until well into the film. Vincke and Ledda share more in life experience than either of than would like to admit and that adds friction and ambiguity that gives this film its substantial bone structure.
There is a very funny and strange scene about mid film in which Ledda wakes up in bed in the throes of an Alzheimer's episode after having sex with a sexy short haired platinum blond, looks around and forgets who she is and what he has just done to her: scary and patently real.
There are many ways in which "The Memory of a Killer" reminds me of Helen Mirren's PBS series, "Prime Suspect" in that the police are just as messed up psychologically and morally conflicted as the criminals. And this brings a certain verisimilitude to the proceedings: we are after all human, all capable of the best and the worst in human behavior and like Leda: "mastered by the brute blood in the air."

This is one of those instances where every part of the filmmaking process comes together to create a true masterpiece. Jan Decleir gives a performance that puts most Hollywood actors or even New-York style method-actors to shame. The film will drag you in in a matter of a very few minutes with a gripping storyline and fast-paced action, dunking you 'in medias res' after barely getting started.
The story unfolds from there, and the first two-thirds or so are so fantastic you won't be able to sit still in your chair... The last part, as has been remarked by a reviewer, is less jam-packed and comparatively less visually compelling (although still good) and may be much better understood and appreciated by Belgians, for whom this storyline is about a decade old and stems from a few sordid trials and their unsavory 'witnesses' with their equally unpleasant stories and accusations.
Be that as it may, the first two thirds to three quarters are Hitchcock-quality moviemaking and will leave you with your mind reeling. You will want to watch it again and appreciate the immense power it has. In intensity it is like having a Slayer concert in your living room, in finesse it's like a great Mozart performance. All thumbs way up.

I'm not a huge fan of movies about hit men, but this one really sucked me in and kept me absorbed for its full two hours of nonstop action. A mix of thriller and police procedural, this film by Flemish director Erik Van Looy is clever, intelligent, and compelling as any Helen Mirren "Prime Suspect." There is wit and some broad humor, and it recalls at times the finest suspense sequences in Alfred Hitchcock, managing to keep our sympathies with both the young police investigators *and* the aging hit man they are pursuing - quite a trick. An added twist is that the hit man in question is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's, which alters his perception of what is going on around him as well as his memory.

The performances in the film are excellent, especially the amazing Jan Decleir as the killer, and the cinematography and editing perfectly reflect the complexity of the intertwining threads of plot. The soundtrack is drivingly strident (sounds like beating on trash cans) and creepy by turns. And BMW owners may wish that the film didn't make so much of a malicious practical joke directed as unerringly at them as the laser beam that shines from the hit man's gun.

This is an excellent movie and its too bad its not available to rent. The issue of Alzheimer's slowly closing in on him is done with a such deft directorial hand it leaves the view with a new understanding how confusing and horrifying this disease really is. As he progresses along and his memory blinks like an intermittent neon sign, he is determined to bring down those even more immoral and depraved than he, a cold-blooded hired killer. The pivotal moment that holds such emotional glory amidst a spectacle of terrifying chaos is when he sees that the girl is only 12 - it conjures up a whole spectrum of moral issues about minors (she is a prostitute and an astute one at that) as well as soothes the savagery that threatens the viewer that he could just as easily kill her. This was also present in The Replacement Killers when John Lee (Yun Fat Chow) could not kill the boy, bringing that world down around him, like this. The chase by law enforcement spirals down into a confusing mess and especially dark and droll and drizzling prelude to finale, but the end is killer clarity, no Alzheimer's there, at all. A must see, but pay close attention as it has that Girl with the Dragon Tattoo intensity.

I've been on a streak as of late. After having seen "The Question in Their Eyes" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" I figured there couldn't be too many crime thrillers left out there that were of equal caliber but I was wrong. "The Memory of a Killer" is a great yarn and it's because, as in the aforementioned films, it draws as much from character as it does from plot.

This is no skin deep thriller. You get to know the main players here and you care for them and their outcomes. It's set in Belgium but seems to draw from France in a way of which I wasn't quite certain. It takes a bit from "Memento" in that the main characters in both films have memory problems and need to write things on their person to not let them fade away. That's where the similarity ends.

Here, the main character is a professional hit-man that turns against his employer when he finds out that part of the landscape involves child prostitution. He simply won't go there and won't tolerate it. The two detectives on his tail are in a precarious position in that they need to nab him but he is their guide to a much bigger fish. An uneasy bond is forged as each tries to help the other without blurring professional lines of conduct.

This is a cool flick. It's not just bad guys vs. good guys. Here there is some squabbling going on between various departments and government factions, some of which are in bed with the guy they ultimately want to put behind bars, so things get pretty thick. The viewer knows what should happen but the outcome is by no means certain.

All the production values are top shelf. The acting, directing, editing etc. are all pro level. This is a very good entry into the genre, so if crime thrillers are your poison then this should knock you out.

Others have discussed the plot so my comments will be short. I saw a preview of the movie and eventually purchased it. I would say it would make my list of movies to be sure to watch again as I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is suspensful and keeps your attention.

The Memory of a Killer is a movie in Dutch, (some French too) subtitled in English.

I really like this movie, it is very touching. Jan Decleir is such a great actor!