tgvail I'll admit that it's Blockbuster's fault that the only thing indicating this movie was a documentary was an approximately 6-point footnote at the bottom of a smeary label. Still, this movie definitely doesn't pass as a "suspense thriller" or anything like unto it. The sound was horribly done, with annoying screeches, bizarre music, and extreme (and extremely useless) volume changes. The cinematography was "child-like" at best and "I'd rather sit at a stoplight and watch actual lights blink, actual trash blow around, and actual people I don't care about talking to one another" at worst. The scenario was interesting, but the interviews were badly cut and awkward, the film quality was well below par, and the general feel of the film was on par with being at a family restaurant on 12 people's birthdays. Minus the horrible sound and camera-work, this film was only marginally totally boring. Only every other documentary I've ever watched is more interesting.

Nooz Gardner What a compelling story, I could not imagine in my life that ever happening, but hey Doug is proof that it can. To wake up and be totally unable to know anything about yourself would be so weird. I know that sometimes when I am driving, for one second I seem to forget which side of the road I am meant to be on, so the longevity of Dougs dilemma (if it be that) would be way profound. He seems to have taken it in his stride, maybe we didn't get to see the "down" side very much, I would have liked to have seem some more emotion on his behalf. I wish him and Narelle all the best for his NEW life, just a real spinney movie, Rupert did an outstanding doco on his mate. Fantastic. I loved it..

bob the moo Doug Bruce woke up on a train surrounded by unfamiliar landscapes. He gets off the train and has no idea that he is in Coney Island, not far from his New York apartment. Without any clue as to who he is or where he lives, Doug turns himself into the police who struggle to work out who he is either. With time Doug's wide former social circle of friends means that he is identified and the pieces begin to fall into place. Well, at least for others, for Doug he still has no idea who he is or how his memory loss had occurred.In theory Murray's film should have been fascinating and devastating because the subject matter offers the potential to be engaging (it could happen to you) and emotionally impacting. Sadly Murray single-handedly manages to flush this opportunity down the toilet with a documentary that is little more than a load of footage stung together without any real idea of direction and structure. Conceptually the film is interesting early on as the experts put forward their theories and we start at the beginning. However the film falls flat as it progresses as it appears to have little to add. Watching Doug awkwardly greeting crying friends as if they were strangers gets a it old quickly and it didn't offer much more than that after a while. This minimises the emotional impact of the piece and takes us out of Doug's head.The bigger failure is the total lack of cynicism in the film. I am aware of the articles and others who have scoffed at Doug's claims and I must admit that with some of the claims that lack logic I found myself wondering if he was putting it all on. Indeed some of the inconsistencies in what he can and can't remember did seem a bit handy to me and it was hard for me to not question the situation. Sadly the film never even considers the possibility and this total acceptance of the story takes away from its value as a documentary because it never questions anything. I'm not suggesting Murray needed to keep kicking Doug until he cracked but at least a bit of questioning would have been of value. Doug himself is convincing and mostly I was able to put down the inconsistencies to just being the way things were. However Murray's narration is poor and I couldn't help but wonder how much better the film would have been in someone else's hands.Overall then, an interesting subject but a poor documentary that misses open goals and generally just seems happy to stick with one thread and not offer much in the way of insight, commentary or thought. A real shame when you think of the potential inherent in the material – worth a look for the initial value it has but just don't expect the film to do that much with it.

superfudge73 The idea itself seems repellent to most people. In addition, Doug's apparent lack of enthusiasm for regaining his memory seems disturbing to human beings who's entire existence is defined by our memory of experiences. The reality of the situation is the impossibility to be longing and nostalgic for memories that don't exist in your psyche. In conjunction with the obvious commercial motive for faking this film, would the filmmakers and Doug himself be willing to ruin their credibility over a low budget Indi film? As far as I know, no one has ever been able to find any of the newspaper reports alleged in the film. What can't be denied is the fact that any film that makes you ponder the context and characters, be it real or fake, is worth the watch.