Plenty of action but little substance — Arrested Memory

Far Eastern cinema continues to take centre stage in Venice: following Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” and Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love”, it is now the turn of “Arrested Memory” and “Look Back”.

Arrest and charges

The first, screened out of competition, is directed by Sabu, a Japanese actor and director known for directing films such as “Miss Zombie” (2013) and “Mr. Long” (2017).

“Arrested Memory” centres on Lee, a leading inspector with the Taipei police force.

Traumatised by the incident, Lee develops amnesia, which he is determined to keep secret.

He is soon assigned a new case: the kidnapping of the son of an influential Japanese businessman.

As his memory continues to fade, Lee can rely only on his instincts, which, against all odds, will lead him to the criminals. ‘Arrested Memory’ gets off to a fairly good start; it is a film which, right from the very first sequence, relies less on dialogue and more on imagery, through a fast-paced editing style that is the most successful aspect of the entire production.

Although the pace is more than decent, the narrative lacks any real substance, and the overall impression is that the result is a production with very little substance.

Charges and court proceedings

After losing his team during an investigation, he is tormented by guilt and ends up being transferred to a rural police station.