Suppose memories could be extracted and implanted … how would you know your memories are your memories? This is a topic that comes up periodically in fiction and I find the psychology fascinating. I’m not even talking about how personal biases confuse or change memories. What I really wish to know is how do you know your memories apply to you? What if there’s no proof, which is true of almost all memory?
Jiang Feng (Bo Huang) just stopped by the clinic for a memory readjustment. Yeah, I could see that; there are plenty of things I don’t wish to remember. His memories are stored in a little jar called a pensieve, ideally suited for that strategy session with Dumbledore. Returning home, he serves with wife divorce papers. “Honey, how thoughtful! But I didn’t get you anything.” She insists she ain’t gonna sign until Jiang gets his memories back.
Personally, I see this memory extraction purge along the same lines as a vasectomy – why yes, it can be reversed, but if that’s even a possibility, don’t do it. I’d be totally red-faced were I Jiang, “ummm, yeah, guess what? Turns out I need my memories after all. Silly me.” The restore takes some time for readjustment, but the fragments coming in suggest Jiang is a serial killer. “Excuse me, ma’am, you’ve given me the wrong memories … Just send them back and come out with the memories I ordered and a carafe of something in the Zinfandel family.”
Now, I’m just sayin’ here – if you asked for your memory back and you saw yourself killing somebody, how would you know it wasn’t you? Wouldn’t this be a good reason why you purged your memories in the first place? Well, Jiang knows it wasn’t him and it’s time to get the authorities involved; and this action earns him a fastpass to solitary confinement, of course.
Battle of Memories thus sets up a series of mysteries: Who killed? Who died? Who knows? Why did Jiang want to purge his memories in the first place? Why did his estranged wife refuse to let him? The seeds of a great film are sown, but unfortunately the plant blossomed into something so ornate and complicated even the local horticulturist society let it be. The film suggests four different scenarios for how the first murder went down. Presumably
the final was correct, but I’m just a certain that had a fifth solution come to light, that would have been the ending instead – the mystery is less a definitive Whodunit? than a “Best Answer” set of responses (i.e. “42 of 61 people found this denouement helpful”).
While I loved the mind manipulation game Battle of Memories played, I was terribly frustrated with the police work in the film. By the time the very average middle-aged Jiang escapes police custody a third (!) time, I was left wondering what kind of Keystone Cops run this city – better get Jackie Chan involved; that guy can bring a man to justice. There’s a lot here to like, and a lot here to leave one feeling helpless and confused; I wonder if the Battle would go better if I understood Mandarin. Probably not.
♪I remember when
I remember, I remember when I killed a guy
There was something disturbing about that spell
Even my emotions don’t reflect it all that well
Hey you, wait a sec, hold there
Yeah, that wasn’t me
Think I’m confused because I know too much
That’s not my crime spree
Is reality hazy?
Is reality hazy?
Is reality hazy?
Possibly♫
Not Rated, 119 Minutes
D: Leste Chen
W: That particular memory was extracted from my head
Genre: Recall-ection
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Sci-fi junkies
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The easily confused
♪ Parody inspired by “Crazy”
