A Photographic Memory

It attempts to close the gap between the filmmaker and her mother and, in the process, does so between the viewers and her mother, an artist gone before her time.

This poetic gem is a journey from the weight of absence to the serenity of presence, thanks in no small part to the inquisitive, gifted woman pulled from obscurity: Sheila Turner-Seed, whose life was short but full and worth revitalizing.

Without playing with anyone’s life, “A Photographic Memory” makes beautiful sense of the connections between mother and daughter, work and love and other mysteries.

It’s a film that captures the unsettling sensation of reaching middle age, knowing the length of the road ahead is uncertain but certainly shorter than it’s ever been, and not being able to see past the age your parent was upon death.

Pre-ordained as Seed’s conclusion might feel, it’s plenty affecting to watch her get there.

Beyond the wealth of resources at her disposal, it’s the consistently meta and thematically relevant formal ingenuity Seed shrewdly deploys that make her debut a sumptuous piece of nonfiction.

Although it might seem familiar in concept, this documentary about artistic legacies and family bonds is quietly powerful on multiple levels.

Rachel Seed might not have been the ideal candidate to make this movie, but it’s clear she needed to do it more than any outside creative might have...

“A Photographic Memory” is an achingly personal film about Rachel’s attempts to stitch together a new kind of memory from those archival materials, to not just understand a woman she never knew but to somehow feel her mother’s presence within her.

“Some minor continuity issues in ‘A Photographic Memory’ point to the first-time director’s lack of experience, yet they oddly work in favor of the established mood and tone via the (mostly) outstanding editing.”