tlotr_tloz Imagine that you forgot what you were doing an hour ago. You don't remember your name. You don't know if you have friends or family. All you know is you're hungry and you should find a place to spend the night. This is the setting for Embers, a movie that explores human behavior and how it is influenced by our memories. We see a couple that tries to stay together. A kid that wanders the world aimlessly. A frustrated young man that has forgotten how to control his emotions. And then there's the young girl surviving in a bunker. She is unaffected and still has her memories, but her life in the bunker might be just as pointless as a life without memory. Some of the many story lines are connected, but don't expect anything big to happen. The power lies in the concept and the emotions that the characters portray. Enjoy this movie and remember to hold your memories dear.

CineMuseFilms Originality is a rare treat in modern cinema and more likely found in small independent productions. Huge marketing budgets for mainstream movies flood us with hype to overshadow gems like Embers (2015). Labelled a 'sci-fi drama' it is only loosely based on the tropes and conventions of science fiction. Brilliantly filmed against a dystopian background, the essence of the story could have been presented in any timeframe or setting.Embers is a direction-less story framed around several unconnected vignettes that depict daily life for people without memory. It is set at a time and place several years after a devastating global catastrophe unleashed a neurological disease that destroyed memory functions. Amidst the ruins of civilisation, we meet a wealthy father and daughter who have survived the virus by sheltering deep inside their fully equipped high-tech bunker. The bored daughter is desperate to see the outside but the father warns that once she leaves there is no turning back. Outside we encounter several scenarios of victims whose every day starts and ends nowhere in particular because they do not remember their name, where they have been, where they are going or who they are. Their only preoccupation is finding food and staying alive. We see a former professor reading the lines of a book again and again, unable to connect their meaning to anything he learnt before. A small boy wanders from stranger to stranger without fear or memory of where he belongs. A violent youth is in a constant rampage, smashing whatever he can, but he cannot remember what has made him so angry. A couple greet each other every day as if they never met, but sense they might be related only because they are wearing similar wristbands. All are eerie scenarios that hang in limbo without connection to anything or anyone else.This film is an open book to be interpreted as metaphor, philosophy or narrative. By depicting life without memory, we can imagine what would happen if the neurological thread that connects us to time and space suddenly unravelled. Memory is the ultimate hyper-link that connects moments to years, us to others, and a single idea to knowledge of the ages. Unlike instincts in animals, human memory allows complex learning. The professor falls back on instinct when he cannot remember how to chop wood but with axe in hand his body responds in the correct sequence. Without memory, the violent youth cannot control his instinct to destroy, just like nations that do not learn from history and wage wars long after the threat or insult is forgotten. At all levels of interpretation, it is memory that joins the dots of life.The line between science fiction and fantasy rests entirely on plausibility. Putting a sci-fi label on this film has kept it out of view for many audiences. It is a deep, thought-provoking film that is light on action but rich in dialogue that explores a taken-for-granted human function. It is not that far removed from reality, as amnesia or other mental conditions are well known. This film's production values are disproportionate to its budget; it is cleverly filmed and well-acted with a script full of complex ideas that can leave you pondering deeply for days. It's an original gem of a film.

globe-2 A film about memory that will trigger future memories for me of its many haunting moments and images. An incredibly ambitious accomplishment of genuine independent filmmaking (both in theme, design, and execution). The always delightful Jason Ritter (here in a heartbreaking role; a simple beat he takes with a water bottle is among the most poignant scenes in recent cinema), and some thoroughly confident and brilliant actors new-to-me whom I hope to see again (Iva Gocheva, Roberto Cots, Greta Fernandez) made this well worth the viewing, along with the surprise of discovering a director (Claire Carre) who will surely deliver many fascinating films in the future.

Boristhemoggy I suspect this movie set out to be clever and artful. Sadly it did not have any content so while some scenes are almost artful in their presentation, they have no content. A story must engage with the listener/viewer so that want to continue reading/watching. There's no point watching out of curiosity you want to watch because you're interested in what the story is showing you. This story does not engage and does not tell you anything. There were some scenes that left me utterly perplexed because they meant nothing and had no connection to other scenes. Art is great when it has a point and a purpose that you can communicate to others. If you can't communicate the point and purpose it's not art except to you, it's just uninteresting and nonsensical.