Memories (1995)Memories are by definition distinctly personal and individual experiences. Memories (1995) is an animated anthology film featuring three episodes that vary in tone and content. "Magnetic Rose" tells the story of an intergalactic garbage scow that answers an S.O.S. signal in deep space from a ghost ship. "Stink Bomb" borrows from the mysterious, real-life "Gloria Ramirez incident", and follows a hapless pharmaceutical worker who ingests what he thinks is cold medicine and becomes a walking WMD. "Cannon Fodder" closes Memories with a steampunk-inspired fable about a society perpetually at war, one that is sadly not too different than our own.
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Memories is the brain child of legendary Japanese auteur, Katsuhiro Otomo--best known for the quintessential anime, Akira--and is similar to some of his previous animated anthologies like Neo Tokyo and Robot Carnival. The title sequence hints at the three different stories to follow through a collection of innocuous objects that are arranged to spell out the title--objects that have been crafted by civilization and industry. But the only connecting thread between these stories--other than some tonal consistencies--are the individual titles and sequencing of each episode. All of them have some aspects that are critical of government incompetence and leaders who are too willing to sacrifice their underlings for glory or security. This begs the question about whose memories these vignettes are supposed to be; are they the dreams of the "everyday man"? The three stories are all nightmare scenarios, and carry a level of existential dread, so they hardly represent an escape from humdrum life. They feel more like a call to humanity to abandon their self-destructive routines of everyday life that can never truly bring happiness, but only leads to despair.
Memories opens with "Magnetic Rose", which was directed by Kōji Morimoto and with a screenplay by Satoshi Kon. Although both disciples of Otomo, "Magnetic Rose" foreshadows both filmmakers' own individual styles, like Kon's subsequent Perfect Blue. Like Alien, "Magnetic Rose" features a cast of working class adventurers who make their living salvaging the copious wreckage of interstellar travel at the end of the 21st century in their rundown ship, the Corona. The protagonist of this episode is a stoic man named Heintz, who conceals the tragic and untimely passing of his young daughter, Emily, from his shipmates. The rest of the crew includes the sarcastic and amorous Miguel, the navigator in a Hawaiian shirt, Aoshima--whose cigarette floats away from his mouth when he is surprised--and the gruff captain in overalls called "Pops". Ready to come home after a long trip in space, they receive an S.O.S. signal transmitting from a dangerous region called the "Sargasso", named after the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, known for collecting detritus floating on the ocean's surface. The tired crew answers the call, not so much out of innate heroism or even the lure of more treasure, but from the threat of being banned from working aboard another ship should they refuse. This bureaucratic undercurrent also manifests when they timestamp their entry of the derelict ship after reaching the Sargasso. The episode's title comes from both the deadly magnetic field that surrounds the Sargasso--which the Corona is ill-equipped to handle--and the ship at the nexus of it and source of the S.O.S. signal, which resembles a giant, red rose floating in space. The rose is a metaphor that describes the crew's experience with the rose-shaped vessel: pretty, but dangerous. As Heintz and Miguel prepare to dock aboard the space rose, the S.O.S. signal--which is set to an aria from the opera, "Madame Butterfly"--creates a scene that is a direct nod to the docking sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Its dilapidated exterior is a stark contrast to the interior, which is lavish and opulent, yet filled with illusions and holograms. Heintz and Miguel discover that this wreck was the residence of an erstwhile opera singer named Eva Friedel, and remains attended by a pair of robots that resemble statues of angels. Despite the holographic illusions of taste and refinement, the space rose is essentially a rotting tomb, dominated by a force that preys on the deepest desires of its visitors. Miguel is drawn into the illusion by promises of romance and elegance, while Heintz is haunted by the memories of Emily's death and a longing to turn back the clock and rejoin his family. Despite Eva's attempts to assuage the pain in Heintz's heart over the loss of Emily, he cannot relinquish the terrible truth that remains, which is what gives him the resolve to see through her illusions that entice him with a comfortable death, like the sirens of Homer's "Odyssey".
"Stink Bomb" sits comfortably in the middle of Memories, directed by Tensai Okamura and with a screenplay by Katsuhiro Otomo. Of the three episodes, this one feels the most grounded in reality--at least at first. Nobuo is a mild-mannered protagonist who visits the doctor's office and downs plenty of cold medicine in the hopes of beating his infection. He goes to work primarily because he feels alone at home, as he explains to a pretty young receptionist on his way in, who is oblivious to his meek attempt at flirting. Since he works for a pharmaceutical company, one of his colleagues suggests that he tries a new medicine--"blue capsules in a red container"--to alleviate his symptoms, which are kept in the chief's office. But in his fevered state, he accidentally ingests a "red capsule in a blue container" situated tragically next to the other pills on the desk. After falling asleep in the office's guest room, his body catalyzes the medicine, causing him to radiate a toxic odor in an increasingly larger radius which kills everyone else in the office. Yet Nobuo is immune to the effects of the odor, and is comically unaware of how or why everyone who comes close to him suddenly grasps their throats and keels over. After he contacts the company's head (named Nirasaki) via teleconference, he is ordered to bring the experimental pills--which were developed at the behest of the government, presumably as a biological weapon--to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the testy Nirasaki has no idea that Tobuo has become the source of the contamination, and his trek through the mountains and into the populated city cuts a swath of death and destruction reminiscent of Godzilla. The funky musical score that permeates "Stink Bomb" perfectly fits the absurd premise of a foolish office worker who suddenly turns into the greatest threat to Japan. Nobuo unconsciously manages to thwart all of the vaunted might of the nation's military forces levied against him, ironically turning the very same weapon they were experimenting with back on them. "Stink Bomb" plays with elements of political intrigue and subterfuge on the part of the Japanese and American governments involved in this hilariously destructive accident, but prefers to portray ruling powers as truly unprepared and inept, despite their positions of leadership. As Nobuo makes his way through Kōfu and toward Tokyo, his biological affliction becomes more pronounced; he trails a green cloud of death with lightning that disrupts the targeting systems of the sophisticated weapons fired at him--a storm of apocalyptic proportions with him leading the charge as a pale rider on his moped. And though all of the fauna in his wake dies, all of the flora flourishes instead, suggesting that despite the carnage he trails, he is the humble messenger of a "divine wind", returning Japan to a natural, more verdant state.
Written and directed by Otomo himself, "Cannon Fodder" depicts an overly industrialized dystopia reminiscent of 1984, where an entire city-state has molded its culture around warfare; even a child's alarm clock depict a cannon firing into a castle and destroying it. Designed to appear as one long take--with clever cutaways used to jump between characters--"Cannon Fodder" tells the story of one family and their daily routines in this kind of world. A young boy wakes up for school, where he is instructed exclusively about the mechanics of the cannons that make up the entire skyline of his city, and where he dreams of growing up to fire the cannons himself one day, like the heroic figure in a painting that adorns their simple apartment. The mother manufactures the shells that are fired, and gossips with her colleagues during lunch breaks. Like her coworkers, she is forced to cheer with the rest when the massive cannons fire during the day. The emaciated father works at the titanic "Number 17" cannon, which requires whole teams of men to load and fire its shells from its massive red barrel. The tense process of loading and firing the cannon is performed by men who swarm around the weapon like ants, wearing gas masks that resemble elephant trunks, while the percussion-heavy musical score by Hiroyuki Nagashima is akin to the pounding of a heartbeat. This tension, however, is diffused through the absurd ritual of a fat and ornamented general who gets all the credit by firing the cannon, as the men who did all the hard work are forced to just stand by at attention. There is an overwhelming amount of sadness in this bleak depiction of a world given over not just to war, but one where they are deprived of any individual agency by a government that exploits the constant state of war readiness to keep its society under heel. Lettering for propaganda slogans like "no conquest without labor" are penned in a Soviet font, and activists who hand out fliers for "non-toxic gunpowder" are ignored by the throngs of indoctrinated citizens, endlessly commuting to and from their back-breaking jobs. Several scenes underscore the despair of life in this kind of world, like when the cannon loaders are on break and look out past the firing range on the horizon, which is nothing but red earth and craters. Or when the young boy asks his father about who their actually fighting after a superficial news report claims that "the fighting will be over soon", and the father flatly replies "you'll understand when you're older". What he really means is that he'll figure out that they're not actually fighting anyone, but by that point, he won't be able to do anything about it. "Cannon Fodder" includes a brief scene where the boy's childish drawing of a heroic cannon general marches out to lay waste to some skeletal enemies. This interlude emphasizes the evil of a government that is comfortable in brainwashing its people with messages of false patriotism or feeds them an artificial identity at the expense of truth or individual thought. "Cannon Fodder" isn't meant to simply depress its audience, but is a call to action to wake up and no longer swallow the lies fed to them; true revolution begins in the mind.
Recommended for: Fans of a colorful and thought-provoking collection of animated vignettes that--although individually different--explore themes ranging from the dangers of being ruled by one's desire to the fallibility and lack of integrity of ruling powers. Memories is a great introduction to anime for new audiences, since it represents a trio of distinct styles, yet remains consistently engaging and entertaining.
Memories opens with "Magnetic Rose", which was directed by Kōji Morimoto and with a screenplay by Satoshi Kon. Although both disciples of Otomo, "Magnetic Rose" foreshadows both filmmakers' own individual styles, like Kon's subsequent Perfect Blue. Like Alien, "Magnetic Rose" features a cast of working class adventurers who make their living salvaging the copious wreckage of interstellar travel at the end of the 21st century in their rundown ship, the Corona. The protagonist of this episode is a stoic man named Heintz, who conceals the tragic and untimely passing of his young daughter, Emily, from his shipmates. The rest of the crew includes the sarcastic and amorous Miguel, the navigator in a Hawaiian shirt, Aoshima--whose cigarette floats away from his mouth when he is surprised--and the gruff captain in overalls called "Pops". Ready to come home after a long trip in space, they receive an S.O.S. signal transmitting from a dangerous region called the "Sargasso", named after the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, known for collecting detritus floating on the ocean's surface. The tired crew answers the call, not so much out of innate heroism or even the lure of more treasure, but from the threat of being banned from working aboard another ship should they refuse. This bureaucratic undercurrent also manifests when they timestamp their entry of the derelict ship after reaching the Sargasso. The episode's title comes from both the deadly magnetic field that surrounds the Sargasso--which the Corona is ill-equipped to handle--and the ship at the nexus of it and source of the S.O.S. signal, which resembles a giant, red rose floating in space. The rose is a metaphor that describes the crew's experience with the rose-shaped vessel: pretty, but dangerous. As Heintz and Miguel prepare to dock aboard the space rose, the S.O.S. signal--which is set to an aria from the opera, "Madame Butterfly"--creates a scene that is a direct nod to the docking sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Its dilapidated exterior is a stark contrast to the interior, which is lavish and opulent, yet filled with illusions and holograms. Heintz and Miguel discover that this wreck was the residence of an erstwhile opera singer named Eva Friedel, and remains attended by a pair of robots that resemble statues of angels. Despite the holographic illusions of taste and refinement, the space rose is essentially a rotting tomb, dominated by a force that preys on the deepest desires of its visitors. Miguel is drawn into the illusion by promises of romance and elegance, while Heintz is haunted by the memories of Emily's death and a longing to turn back the clock and rejoin his family. Despite Eva's attempts to assuage the pain in Heintz's heart over the loss of Emily, he cannot relinquish the terrible truth that remains, which is what gives him the resolve to see through her illusions that entice him with a comfortable death, like the sirens of Homer's "Odyssey".
"Stink Bomb" sits comfortably in the middle of Memories, directed by Tensai Okamura and with a screenplay by Katsuhiro Otomo. Of the three episodes, this one feels the most grounded in reality--at least at first. Nobuo is a mild-mannered protagonist who visits the doctor's office and downs plenty of cold medicine in the hopes of beating his infection. He goes to work primarily because he feels alone at home, as he explains to a pretty young receptionist on his way in, who is oblivious to his meek attempt at flirting. Since he works for a pharmaceutical company, one of his colleagues suggests that he tries a new medicine--"blue capsules in a red container"--to alleviate his symptoms, which are kept in the chief's office. But in his fevered state, he accidentally ingests a "red capsule in a blue container" situated tragically next to the other pills on the desk. After falling asleep in the office's guest room, his body catalyzes the medicine, causing him to radiate a toxic odor in an increasingly larger radius which kills everyone else in the office. Yet Nobuo is immune to the effects of the odor, and is comically unaware of how or why everyone who comes close to him suddenly grasps their throats and keels over. After he contacts the company's head (named Nirasaki) via teleconference, he is ordered to bring the experimental pills--which were developed at the behest of the government, presumably as a biological weapon--to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the testy Nirasaki has no idea that Tobuo has become the source of the contamination, and his trek through the mountains and into the populated city cuts a swath of death and destruction reminiscent of Godzilla. The funky musical score that permeates "Stink Bomb" perfectly fits the absurd premise of a foolish office worker who suddenly turns into the greatest threat to Japan. Nobuo unconsciously manages to thwart all of the vaunted might of the nation's military forces levied against him, ironically turning the very same weapon they were experimenting with back on them. "Stink Bomb" plays with elements of political intrigue and subterfuge on the part of the Japanese and American governments involved in this hilariously destructive accident, but prefers to portray ruling powers as truly unprepared and inept, despite their positions of leadership. As Nobuo makes his way through Kōfu and toward Tokyo, his biological affliction becomes more pronounced; he trails a green cloud of death with lightning that disrupts the targeting systems of the sophisticated weapons fired at him--a storm of apocalyptic proportions with him leading the charge as a pale rider on his moped. And though all of the fauna in his wake dies, all of the flora flourishes instead, suggesting that despite the carnage he trails, he is the humble messenger of a "divine wind", returning Japan to a natural, more verdant state.
Written and directed by Otomo himself, "Cannon Fodder" depicts an overly industrialized dystopia reminiscent of 1984, where an entire city-state has molded its culture around warfare; even a child's alarm clock depict a cannon firing into a castle and destroying it. Designed to appear as one long take--with clever cutaways used to jump between characters--"Cannon Fodder" tells the story of one family and their daily routines in this kind of world. A young boy wakes up for school, where he is instructed exclusively about the mechanics of the cannons that make up the entire skyline of his city, and where he dreams of growing up to fire the cannons himself one day, like the heroic figure in a painting that adorns their simple apartment. The mother manufactures the shells that are fired, and gossips with her colleagues during lunch breaks. Like her coworkers, she is forced to cheer with the rest when the massive cannons fire during the day. The emaciated father works at the titanic "Number 17" cannon, which requires whole teams of men to load and fire its shells from its massive red barrel. The tense process of loading and firing the cannon is performed by men who swarm around the weapon like ants, wearing gas masks that resemble elephant trunks, while the percussion-heavy musical score by Hiroyuki Nagashima is akin to the pounding of a heartbeat. This tension, however, is diffused through the absurd ritual of a fat and ornamented general who gets all the credit by firing the cannon, as the men who did all the hard work are forced to just stand by at attention. There is an overwhelming amount of sadness in this bleak depiction of a world given over not just to war, but one where they are deprived of any individual agency by a government that exploits the constant state of war readiness to keep its society under heel. Lettering for propaganda slogans like "no conquest without labor" are penned in a Soviet font, and activists who hand out fliers for "non-toxic gunpowder" are ignored by the throngs of indoctrinated citizens, endlessly commuting to and from their back-breaking jobs. Several scenes underscore the despair of life in this kind of world, like when the cannon loaders are on break and look out past the firing range on the horizon, which is nothing but red earth and craters. Or when the young boy asks his father about who their actually fighting after a superficial news report claims that "the fighting will be over soon", and the father flatly replies "you'll understand when you're older". What he really means is that he'll figure out that they're not actually fighting anyone, but by that point, he won't be able to do anything about it. "Cannon Fodder" includes a brief scene where the boy's childish drawing of a heroic cannon general marches out to lay waste to some skeletal enemies. This interlude emphasizes the evil of a government that is comfortable in brainwashing its people with messages of false patriotism or feeds them an artificial identity at the expense of truth or individual thought. "Cannon Fodder" isn't meant to simply depress its audience, but is a call to action to wake up and no longer swallow the lies fed to them; true revolution begins in the mind.
Recommended for: Fans of a colorful and thought-provoking collection of animated vignettes that--although individually different--explore themes ranging from the dangers of being ruled by one's desire to the fallibility and lack of integrity of ruling powers. Memories is a great introduction to anime for new audiences, since it represents a trio of distinct styles, yet remains consistently engaging and entertaining.