Watch Memories For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Just what I expected

Better Late Then Never

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Really this movie is far from being just three pretentious short films just putted together; is a masterpiece that reveal certain aspects of human behavior, that explores sadness, fear, loneliness, egoism, hope, alienation, and the sacrifice of truth for happiness.Two of the short films (the first and the third one) are, personally, in my top 10 of short films of every kind; that's the level of the films.The First One shows the reactions of different people before an opportunity that brings you happiness, but in exchange you must give up to the truth, to believe blindly in this new reality that is a complete fake. One of the characters picks up to sacrifice truth for happiness, the other one prefers truth; so you can compare both sides. And in the end you finish asking yourself: ¿What would I Choose?... All with powerful images, great sceneries, and a very realistic way of animation. It reminds me another masterpiece : "Open Your Eyes" (Alejandro Amenábar).The Second Story is a comedy that mark us a situation in which a Biogenetic weapon (by the way, a very strange one... "An Stink Bomb") is activated and the security of the hole country (Japan) is in danger. So decisions must be made and to kill the one that ports the weapon looks like the clever option, but USA has inverted his money in the investigation, so kill the boy is not the option. It explores the egoism of a country that prefers to preserve his own interest first, that to watch over the people's health. It brings out the eternal protest against the powerful nations that historically have veil first for his interests than for the human race, and the dangers that this situations brings. Only that, in difference with the common anti imperial movies this is a comedy that makes you laugh in many parts.The Third and final one introduces us to a world that is in continue state of emergency and that lives for attacking a enemy that, in the whole film, you and them (the characters) can't see; and an enemy that, with certain situations, the creator suggest us that maybe it doesn't exist. The television programs, the paintings, the school, the houses, the common labors, all is just directed to the same direction: attack the enemy, destroy it. You see, in the movie, the live of a boy that only dreams in becoming a weapon shooter, not a weapon builder or a weapon constructor, because the figure of the weapon's shooter is very prestigious and worthy. This is a film that tries to do a profound explore of alienation; and, for that, it finish being a anti war movie and a movie that makes you think a lot about the useless and harmful of war alienation.Many of the other persons that made an opinion of this movie before me write that the three short films didn't have any kind of connection, but I like to think and think again to create my own version, so I find my own connection in these little masterpieces (hope you coincide with me): "Anti Imperialism"; that applies to the imperial states at any period of history, from the old Rome, passing by the Hitlers Germany to the actual USA.All of these states uses the alienation (like in the third history shows) to attack the enemies, the real ones and the fake ones (like the newest USA war, in Irak), and in this process is reflected the egoism of a country (like the second history shows), that does all that it can to preserve his power, even if that harms other countries. And in the hole process is involved the question: Do I Choose the Truth or do I choose my own happiness?... and this question goes to all the people in the world in front of the behavior of some powerful nations and people, like in Rwanda: Do you Choose to Stay Happy at your home and to ignore the bad things that are happening in the world or do you choose the truth (that implies to act) ?

Amazing anime trilogy from AKIRA's Katsuhiro Otomo, who presents three unrelated sci fi stories directed by different directors (he did the last one, writers/first-time directors Tensai Okamura and Koji Morimoto did the other two). They are amazing vignettes with some stupendous animation in three different styles. Otomo's is especially unique in that there are no cuts – the "camera" moves fluidly through every scene without a jump or a stop. Morimoto's 40-min "Magnetic Rose" is stunningly animated, the most amazing of the two, telling of a space ship's investigation of a distress signal discovering a magnificent world created by a woman's memories – the music takes advantage of the operatic aria, Madame Butterfly, arranged by Yoko Kanno, who also supplies an excellent original score. "Stink Bomb," the middle segment, is clever and funny and fast-paced; Otomo's anti-war statement in "Cannon Fodder" closes out the film with a subtle bit of thought-provocation about a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at an unknown enemy.

Memories conveys three of the best anime segments ever done, even if so many anime fans don't know about it. The first time I saw Memories in a film festival in 1998 left me with such an impression that I never forgot about it. Now that finally I own the DVD, I can say that it's the same as I remembered: magnificent.The "Magnetic Rose" segment feels at times like an homage to Kubrick's "2001 : Space Odissey", and now I could say it's a straight antecedent of the sci-fi tendency about the human mind in a simulated space which we have seen in "Dark City", "Matrix", etc. How a simulation program triggers the memories of the explorers and gets mixed with synthetic memories is done in a very intriguing form. The opera music plays a most important role, since it's the soundtrack what gives depth to the happenings here told."Stink Bomb" is funny as hell, taking the typical idiot hero in the Nintendo kind of plot (thhink Koji in Mazzinger, or Seya in Knigths of the Zodiac) as for what he should be (an idiot, every day man with the flu) , the story revolves around on the accidental creation of a human stinking bomb who treat hens the whole island of Japan. Real funny in a way most kid's animes aren't.Finally, "Cannon Fodder" is the segment which I feel is the true masterpiece in this little anthology. A metaphorical world where a country is in a war against an unknown (and probably inexistent) enemy, and how the cannons are not only weapons, but the complete essence of the cultural, economical and social layers of this surreal "totalitarian" country. Some reminiscence of Orwell's 1984 is present, but the execution is really like anything I have ever seen or read before. It's a one shot segment, so I can hardly imagine the size of some background panels and the animation logistics of this. The music accentuates this strange feeling (very much like in Aeon Flux), and the unusual rendering style makes this a little strange jewel, not only from anime, but from all styles of animation.As I said before, most movie and anime fans don't seem to know, or don't have any memories about this surreal collection of animated storied. I'm glad I'll never forget them.

Unless you are an anime JUNKIE, stay away from this one. Three beautifully animated stories. Too bad the stories themselves are boring enough to put you asleep. Like most anime, they all start with promise, drawing you in with beautiful visuals and a story that might just reveal something interesting. Instead, you're left with a bit of annoyance that so much emphasis was placed on the art and so little on creating a worthwile tale.