Apples

In the midst of a global amnesia pandemic, one man is sent to a government facility to remember who he is.

Middle-aged Aris awakens on a bus having lost his ID … and all of his memories. With no recollection of family or friends who could assist him, he is institutionalised in the hopes that treatment can coax recall from impaired neurons. His regimen involves re-enacting doctor-prescribed milestones – bike-riding, a costume party, hooking up at a club – and documenting these using a Polaroid camera.

Witty and touching in equal measure, Apples is the accomplished directorial debut of Christos Nikou, who has worked with heavyweights Richard Linklater and Yorgos Lanthimos. Set in a world without iPhones or computers, this thought-provoking, visually striking entry into the Greek ‘Weird Wave’ interrogates modern pics-or-it-didn’t-happen culture and how everything from taught behaviours to traumas form the building blocks of what makes us human.

“If this Charlie Kaufman-tinged fairy tale has a moral, it’s that people are the sum of the things they feel and don’t forget … A movie full of lovely and lilting moments that invite you to reflect on the value of your own painful memories.” – IndieWire