Welcome back again for another installment of Mubi Monday! Hope you’re ready to get a little weird, because like it or not, it’s going to happen. Grab your polaroid camera, tape player, scrapbook, and let’s dive into…Apples (2020).
Title: Apples
Director: Christos Nikou
Released: September 2, 2020 (Venice International Film Festival)
Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
Available to stream: Exclusively on Mubi (have a month on me!)
Aris (Aris Servetalis) finds himself living through a pandemic. However, this isn’t your run of the mill pandemic. No, in this pandemic, the infected suffer from sudden amnesia.
One day, Aris finds himself going about his daily tasks when all of a sudden, he awakes on a bus. When the bus reaches the end of the line, the driver asks Aris if he knows where he was supposed to get off. He can’t remember anything. How he got on the bus, where he was going, none of it is coming back to him.
To make matters worse, Aris has no form of identification on him. Because of this, Aris is taken to a specialized ward handling amnesia patients. Time goes by and not a single person has come looking for Aris. He can’t leave the facility unless someone comes to “claim” him. As an alternative, he is approached and encouraged to take part in a new program designed to give amnesia patients a new beginning.
In the program, Aris receives instructions to perform predetermined tasks and take a photo of himself completing each one. While progressing through each task, Aris is completing and documenting life experiences that will form his new identity.
Is it possible to completely forget oneself while simultaneously forging a new version of oneself?
Will there be a point where Aris’ past will bleed into his new memories?
Well, I warned you upfront that it was going to get weird. But now the question is, were you able to buy into the weirdness?
I was.
Reading the synopsis for Apples (2020) before viewing it gave me one version of what to expect. However, Christos Nikou decided to give you what you expect, and turn it on its head. Nikou is now on my radar and knowing that Yorgos was a mentor to him helps explain a bit of the weird factor.
Apples (2020) is one that you need to see to try to begin to understand. And one that, at least for me, will need multiple rewatches to try to fully grasp and understand.
What I will say though, is that Aris Servetalis gives an incredible performance. While his character doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, Aris gives an award worthy performance through just his facial expressions. Also, if you were able to buy into weird, you’re going to love it. All throughout you are trying to decipher what is going on, what is the big picture, and what can you truly believe?
You can view Apples (2020) in one of two ways. You can say that Aris forgot everything about his life and through these tasks his memories began to come back to him. Or you can say that Aris never really suffered from amnesia. Rather, he chose to act like he had amnesia as a way to avoid processing grief.
I tend to believe the latter. There are instances of Aris remembering his old address, the lyrics to a song, and how to perform a specific dance. However, the human brain is a mystery. One can’t know for certain why specific memories may resurface.
Maybe having me believe that Aris acted like he suffered from amnesia was just another trick played on my brain.
Either way, I’ll definitely be revisiting Apples (2020) again.
So, what about you? What did you think of Apples (2020)?
Leave me a comment below or reach out to me on social media and let me hear your thoughts!
Give me a follow over on Letterboxd to keep up with everything else I’ve been watching.