Novo (2002)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin

Starring Eduardo Noriega (The Devil's Backbone), Anna Mouglalis (Merci pour le chocolat), Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia)

Graham (Eduardo Noriega) has a slight memory problem, he has a lapse so that after 10 minutes he's forgotten what's happened, hes forever scribbling notes to remember names, places, just about everything. A temp Irene, (Anna Mouglalis) becomes attracted to him and his somewhat innocent idiosyncrasies and they end up together with her forever writing little notes just so he remembers who she is, (one of the reasons she enjoys their relationship so much is that everytime they make love its like the first time).

A man who regularly reports on his activities is also following Graham; its only after a while we find out that before the start of his memory loss he was his best friend. Theres also a young boy who regularly appears; again its a good while before we know whom he and the mysterious woman (Paz Vega) who pops up now and again are and how they are connected with Graham.

A twisted chain of events slowly reveal the truth about Graham and his memory problems until for some unclear reason his memory returns and the story is wrapped up quite nicely, or is it?

This uses a similar idea to Memento but without the reverse plot. It seems (and the dvd extras only add proof to this) that the sole reason is to make a slightly twisted romantic drama with nudity in abundance (especially Eduardo Noriega and Anna Mouglalis), fairly smart and erotic, a little too glossy maybe (the cast are certainly more attractive than the average Joe), entertaining but not groundbreaking.

An ideal movie for a relaxing night, but definitely only for adults.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 18

Region 2 Pal dvd available from Tartan Video.