First garnering praise at festivals like the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, the intriguing new film about memory that isApplesis now finally getting a wide release. It is a work that, even as it is all about forgetting, remains etched in my mind. It is a deliberately paced, reflective Greek film that seeks out both an endearingly odd humor and a strange sense of heart. While difficult to fully pin down, it is as ifEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindwas played out backwards and crossed with the story elements of last year’s underratedLittle Fish. Oh, then dress everything up in a darker hue in both theme and style. Executive produced byCate Blanchettand directed by a committedChristos Nikou, it tells the story of a middle-aged man named Aris (Aris Servetalis) who is one of many who are swept up in a worldwide pandemic that strikes people with sudden amnesia. We see the impact of this early on as our bearded protagonist solemnly strolls down the street until he stumbles upon a backup of cars that remain stuck in place. This is because a man at the front of it has abandoned his car and is now sitting on the curb, utterly confused about everything that is going on around him.
Seeking out help, Aris enrolls in a recovery program that will try to help him build a new identity now that his old one is gone. What begins as attempts at musical association games in the facility will then become somber and silly when he is released out on his own. Living in humble living quarters all alone, his most closely held possessions will now be a polaroid camera and a tape recorder. The tape recorder contains instructions from a doctor with a very deep voice who tells him what it is that he is supposed to do with himself from day to day. These can be more benign things like riding a bike or bizarre ones like crashing a car into a tree. All of this must end with him taking a picture as proof of him completing the task. These photos are then put in a standard-issue scrapbook that will double as a type of memory bank. It recalls some of the eccentric elements ofYorgos LanthimoswhoNikouworked with as an assistant director on the enigmaticDogtooth. Even with this as a possible poetic inspiration when it comes to its sardonic sense of humor,Applesis an undeniably distinct debut feature that charts its own unique path because of how it explores our relationship to memory.
RELATED:How Yorgos Lanthimos Defines the Greek Weird Wave
There are many moments sprinkled throughout that crackle with how they excavate the comedic depths of its concept. This is felt when Aris ponders what song will match what special occasion depicted on a card, guessing wrong each time under the inspection of those overseeing his program. Even when he thinks he has it right as a smile settles on his face, the ensuing letdown is humorous and heartbreaking. Another scene sees various people all come out of a screening ofTexas Chainsaw Massacre. The realization that they were going just to check it off a list given to them by a doctor is quite amusing. While horror can be a powerful experience, it is not something one would typically imagine as having healing qualities. These bizarre moments are part of how the film mines the recesses of memory to show us how joyous and tragic it can be at the same time. When showing us a character who can’t remember much of anything and is left to go through the motions as if he could, it delicately captures the greater process of relearning how to live. There are moments that are gloriously absurd as see Aris try to adapt to his new normal such as a standout scene at a pool I won’t dare spoil. Importantly, it also is balanced out by being attentive to the sadness in his life.
While Nikou had completed his film before our own present pandemic, getting to see the comedy and tragedy of his characters trying to remember how to live again feels all too prescient. It is like observing a wobbling child who has forgotten to walk and subsequently falls down. We see ourselves and our own fears reflected back to us as we too have had to recall how to navigate the world all over again. It is a painful process though also a deeply silly one when deconstructed like this. Nikou takes a deep interest in these rituals and markers of life that we attempt to remember. A Halloween party feels almost surreal when taken apart so precisely, ending up as just another photo in a picture book. What has befallen Aris plays out like a fantastical story that feels like a dark fairytale more than anything else. One moment where he returns from said Halloween party dressed as an astronaut makes this feel most present as he has sealed himself from having to remember or connect with anything. It is as bleak as it is beautiful in exploring the quiet details of how we try to rebuild our lives.
This is the theme that gives everything a greater texture, revealing the way we try to create meaning through the memories we form in life. After all, what is existence but a collection of memories that we mold into a movie that we try to play back in our own mind? As Aris tries to create a connection with one person in particular, we see how he doesn’t just want to remember things for the sake of doing so. The dryly humorous yet dreary experience of this pursuit captures what it means to cling to making memories that pack a greater sense of meaning. All the false ones he creates lack this deeper significance, stripping them of any joy and making them feel more like a job. It all harbors a great degree of skepticism about creating structured, almost clinical memories that are devoid of any emotion. It reveals how the more spontaneous parts of life where we don’t know what they will be like or how we will remember them are what become the most meaningful. Of course, they also can be the most fleeting and filled with loss. To see this all taken apart, piece by piece, feels like we too are being uncovered in some way. It is like there is an outside perspective looking in, something that exposes how funny our little habits and routines can be. It serves as both a melancholic metaphor and a funhouse mirror for our existence, peeling back the layers of the mind just as its central character does with the apples that he collects at key moments of crisis.
