Killing Me Softly With His Hands

From Belgium comes "The Memory of a Killer," (a.k.a. "The Alzheimer Case") a story that starts out as an examination of a hit man whose memory is deteriorating going to do a job that he may no longer be qualified for. It's an interesting premise but along the way it morphs into a pretty straightforward criminal vs. police drama. Surprisingly, this turns out to be a great turn of events. What we are left with is an outstanding drama with twists and turns galore to keep us guessing.

Hit man Angelo Ledda (Jan Decleir) is given his assignment in Marseilles to go to Antwerp, Belgium and take care of a mess. Mr. Decleir, in a performance worthy of Oscar consideration, makes his character three dimensional and magnetic. Once in Antwerp he completes his assignment quickly and efficiently, but then he goes off on what appears to be an illogical tangent, perhaps fueled by the degeneration of his brain. This leads to more murders and to another story that unravels in front of us, revealing itself slowly, or to be more accurate, at just the right pace.

Naturally, as the body count rises the police force becomes obsessed with stopping the murder spree, but nefarious doings are also going on within the police department and the government at large. The lead cop in the investigation, Eric (Koen De Bouw), and his requisite hot-headed comic relief sidekick Freddy (Werner De Smedt) do a decent enough job to keep the movie flowing but this piece is driven by Decleir and Decleir alone. The rest of the characters are a bit cardboardy but competent.

Directed by Erik Van Looy and adapted by Carl Joos and Mr. Looy from a novel by Jef Geeraerts "The Memory of a Killer" is, at different times, reminiscent of "Silence of the Lambs," minus the desire to eat human flesh and fava beans, "Memento," with its frenetic atmosphere, and the political classic "Z." While it is less confusing and ultimately more rewarding than "Memento" it falls short of the other two, but not by much. I can't imagine that it will not be remade into a watered down American version and it will be interesting to see how it is handled. Hopefully Ledda will be played by some great old character actor and not a young pretty boy. That might cause me to forget to see it.