Apples Review: Greek Drama Is A Quietly Effective Meditation On Memory
A culture has developed around how one presents oneself externally at a time when memory and identity seem intimately linked to social media (and the images that go along with it). Apples explores what happens when the concept of the individual is lost, when nothing remains, and when we are forced to create a new identity in a time when the concept of the self itself may be lost to the community. The Greek film examines memory and identity while quietly pondering what it means to be alive in a world when those things are so easily forgotten. Apples' quiet nature conceals complex issues about the modern day beneath its serene surdata-face. It is a superb depiction of ambiguity with a standout lead performance.
In the movie Apples, Aris (Aris Servetalis) wakes up with no memory of who he is and no identity to give him a clue as to who he might have been. people are falling asleep and waking up with no memory as a result of an epidemic that is likely affecting the entire country and potentially the entire world. The people who are unclaimed are left to wander in a world filled with other amnesics and commercials for a drug called Memory+. Sometimes their loved ones find them and set out to restore some form of identity.
These directives come in the form of recordings that advise Aris to carry out an action (maybe a universal life experience) and capture it on film using a Polaroid camera. These encounters provide Aris a new sense of self, and these memories—recorded in a scrapbook—are designed to replace the ones that are now gone. It's a clever idea that's been handled with delicacy and consideration. Aris is willing to do anything the physicians ask of him, especially if it means spending time with Anna (Sofia Georgovassili), a female participant in the programme. Together, they create a kind of collective memory, a journal of shared and private events that might one day equip them to live independently.
In the movie Apples, Aris (Aris Servetalis) wakes up with no memory of who he is and no identity to give him a clue as to who he might have been. people are falling asleep and waking up with no memory as a result of an epidemic that is likely affecting the entire country and potentially the entire world. The people who are unclaimed are left to wander in a world filled with other amnesics and commercials for a drug called Memory+. Sometimes their loved ones find them and set out to restore some form of identity.
These directives come in the form of recordings that advise Aris to carry out an action (maybe a universal life experience) and capture it on film using a Polaroid camera. These encounters provide Aris a new sense of self, and these memories—recorded in a scrapbook—are designed to replace the ones that are now gone. It's a clever idea that's been handled with delicacy and consideration. Aris is willing to do anything the physicians ask of him, especially if it means spending time with Anna (Sofia Georgovassili), a female participant in the programme. Together, they create a kind of collective memory, a journal of shared and private events that might one day equip them to live independently.