Rob Munday
A love-story set in a not too unrecognisable future world where virtual reality is employed by memory simulation services to help their customers relive moments in the past, Memory 2.0 takes us on an emotion-packed journey through its protagonist’s fragile mind. Written by director Dugan O’Neal and actor Wilson Bethel, Memory 2.0 introduces us to a vision of the future more interested in character and sentiment then special FX (although there is some impressive FX work on show).
With a narrative based around a concept introduced in a video O’Neal shot for TV on the Radio track Will Do, Memory 2.0 tells the story of Henry, a man desperate to keep hold of his most precious mental souvenirs by reliving them through a futuristic simulation tool. Constant strolls down memory lane soon prove hazardous for our lovesick protagonist though and as the line between reality and these virtual memories soon begins to blur, Henry makes one last desperate attempt to connect with his lost love.
Memories has proven a popular theme in science-fiction filmmaking, with directors from Verhoeven to Gondry tackling the subject of mental recollection in their features. And although its hard to think of O’Neal’s short without comparing it to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (even though O’Neal’s protagonist is trying to do the complete opposite of Gondry’s), don’t write Memory 2.0 off as a briefer imitation of its predecessor. Playing with themes explored in ESOTSM and almost reversing them, so it is more a film about holding on to memories instead of deleting them, O’Neal’s short taps into a fear many of us would have considered – memory loss. As time goes by, memories are often our most precious keepsakes, but what happens if they start to slip? How far would you go to keep hold of and even relive these echoes from the past?
If you don’t already know the name Dugan O’Neal, the director has been making a name for himself with a series of eye-catching music promos for some of the hottest bands around. Not content with starring in one of the most memorable shorts of 2014 (O’Neal played one of the ‘broformers’ in Interesting Ball), the filmmaker has now turned his hand to the narrative scene with this assured science-fiction short. As big fans of his promo work, we were excited to see O’Neal make the jump to more traditional storytelling and Memory 2.0 has laid some solid foundations for the filmmaker to build upon with future ventures.
Memory 2.0 is one of eight-finalists in The Escapist’s Prototype competition – a short film contest which sees the finalists awarded a $20k budget to shoot their films and the winner handed a film deal with New Regency Productions to develop their narrative into a feature film.