Apples

Apples

In a world that has been dominated by memory loss, a man named Aris (Aris Servetalis) tries to piece his life back together following an unexpected bout of amnesia. Aris is a quiet man with sad eyes and a haunted look.

He stays in the amnesiac ward for some time before enrolling in a program that provides him with instructions on how to re-enter society. They are delivered to him through tape recordings, in which a doctor’s voice takes him through what amounts to normal activities like going to the movies or dressing up for Halloween or making friends. After each one he must take a Polaroid and put it into a photo album for the doctors to see.

Throughout all this, Aris remains strangely disengaged from these tasks, going through life as an observer. This starts to change when he meets another person going through the “program” an extroverted woman named Anna (Sofia Georgovassili). She approaches her assignments with childlike petulance, refusing to engage emotionally in any of them.

For a while, Christos Nikou’s feature directorial debut “Apples” threatens to turn into one of those movies about a lonely man who falls in love with an interesting woman and rediscovers his joie de vivre as a result. Aris’ time with Anna recalls the relationships at the center of American indie dramedies like Garden State and Elizabethtown; he’s quiet, she’s opinionated it’s a dynamic media consumers know well. But Nikou has grander designs on “Apples,” which is about the hollowness of their interactions.

Despite his condition, it seems like Aris is actively avoiding intimacy with other people and himself; Anna is someone he can disappear into, having relationship-like experiences without any actual depth behind them. Is Anna attracted to Aris or is he just compliant enough to be her temporary companion? Does Aris like Anna or is he just afraid of being totally alone?

The only thing Aris and, by extension, the audience knows for sure is his love of apples, which he is frequently shown eating throughout the film. In a way, this is his most intimate relationship. We never learn why he’s so attached to them, but that’s where our curiosity settles. Apples are Aria’s main connection to the man he used to be; they’re also healthful and mnemonic.

Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman and fellow Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos all loom large over “Apples,” with its meta-commentary on the absurdity of human nature and the awkwardness of love. The movie takes its time, luxuriating in each quiet moment with Aris. Slowly it becomes apparent there’s a performative detachment going on here, a squashing down of any strong feelings before they even get close to revealing themselves. It’s an utterly recognizable coping mechanism that speaks to masculine fearfulness around vulnerability and opening oneself up to a Pandora’s box of profound hurt that needs tending.

For all its ontological seriousness, “Apples” is a whimsical work. Music, light and references from everyday pop culture are used in ways that are playful if not downright jolly. When your protagonist is an amnesiac, you can have fun with this sort of thing: learning the plot of James Cameron’s “Titanic,” say, or doing the twist at a retro style club night and having what feels like your first bathroom hookup.

Aris inhabits an analog future without social media; it’s also detached from but still deeply engaged in communal life. Everything’s a ritual here, each ritual based on some general agreement about what people are like. Aria’s adventures could be summarized in a pop song: They have to be universal enough that anyone can relate.

As two people who’ve lost their memory, Servetalis and Georgovassili perform with skill and authenticity. Anna’s role is to go wild with her energy and response to things; Aris is more restrained as he tries to figure everything out. And they’re perfect opposites which makes for rich shared moments.

In his feature debut as a director/writer (he co-scripted), Nikou blends comedy with tragedy so subtly that you might call it quietness or even silences. “Apples” does ask what we’re doing here and how we fit into the world around us but then so does every movie ever made. It also wonders why we try so hard not to remember painful things (“Titanic” only helps so much) or why our initial experiences must always be documented rather than just felt authentically through.

To find joy when life is short one must accept pain as well as loss perhaps? If most human existence really is universal then it’s simply down to earth details which make living worthwhile isn’t it?

Watch Apples For Free On Gomovies.