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Lost Memories in the Movies
Monday, December 10, 2012 at 1:24PM 
The theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme comes to you courtesy of Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out. Arlee realized he couldn’t remember his favorite or most memorable Monday Movie Meme topic, to date. So, the theme goes like this: Lost Memories in the Movies.
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies about people who lose their memories. Simple enough, right? Here are my selections for this week’s Lost Memories in the Movies theme.
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
While I have yet to watch this film (it’s still lingering in my DVD rental queue), it was among the first titles that popped into my head when thinking about Arlee’s “memory loss” theme suggestion. Actor Jim Carrey, who is also the current selection for The LAMB’s Acting School 101 series, stars in this sci-fi romantic drama about a couple who undergoes a procedure to erase their relationship from each others’ memory.
Resident Evil
Actress Milla Jovovich stars in this sci-fi horror movie about a former military operative named Alice who battles a supercomputer and zombies after an experiment goes wrong. Alice has amnesia and thus, does not remember her connection to the genetic research lab where the experiment took place nor does she remember much about their intentions -- but she soon finds out, especially in the sequels that follow this movie.
The Bourne Identity
Actor Matt Damon stars in this action crime film about a contract killer for one of the CIA’s black ops programs. The main character in this and the subsequent films “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” fights for his life while trying to find out who he is by piecing together fragments of his past through flashbacks, confidential documents and information from people working with the CIA.
The Notebook
Duh! I really didn’t want to list this movie since it’s already been selected for previous Monday Movie Meme themes. However, it would be silly to not even mention a movie about a guy who reads to the love of his life, hoping that he can help her improve her memory, despite the fact that she has Alzheimers disease. I mean, to leave out “The Notebook” would just be plain ol’ disrespectful.
What movies have YOU watched that feature people who lose their memories?
Also, this is totally off-topic but...
Dale over at Smurfin’ the Web gave “Hart’s War” (starring Ethan Hawke and Bruce Willis) 3 out of 5 Smurfs in his Thanksgiving weekend movie review. Since then, the Smurfdok has gone all festive for the holidays, trading his signature design for reindeer, snowflakes and related colors for the winter. I’m diggin’ the seasonal look! I haven’t seen “Hart’s War” but it’s on my radar now.
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Reader Comments (6)
The Notebook is a beautiful one. I also thought of First 50 Dates. How odd to start each day having to remember everything that has happened in your life? By the end, I got a little teary eyed with the beautiful way things ended :-)
50 First Dates is good, but the best is "Memento"...That and Dory from "Finding Nemo."
Love all of those (except Resident Evil which I've never seen). Those are some great ones. I will also be discussing "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" for the Acting School as it's my favorite recent Jim Carrey film. You have to watch it.
You can't forget about (pun not intended) "Memento" which is my favorite movie of all time :)
I'm a sucker for the Resident Evil films. Can't get enough of 'em!
As for movies featuring people with lost memories, how's about:
-Brazil (Criterion *just* released their version on blu-ray!)
-The Fountain (do past memories count?)
-Freejack (1992)
-Terminator: Salvation
-Bladerunner (Deckard not knowing he's a replicant)
Angela,
Sounds like you like the beauty in movies, no matter how long it may take for it to surface due to old age or other circumstances. Starting each day having to remember every occurrence in your life sounds like an exhausting way to live when you consider the fact that we live in an ADD culture of multitasking and running a mile a minute on things that take up our daily existence.
Although I heard of "50 First Dates," I still have yet to see it...wonder if it makes for a good late-night movie-watching marathon, coupled with "Eternal Sunshine..." since they're both movies about couples.
Shala,
I cannot believe you haven't seen at least one of the Resident Evil movies...even the second to last one, which had Ashanti in it. You're missing some guilty pleasure zombie action, for sure! My favorite Jim Carrey film (well... my favorite to date, since I haven't seen a few of his most talked about flicks) will be highlighted in my Acting School 101 post but will not be the main focus of the post. I want to center it on one aspect of his work in several different films.
Why is it that everywhere I turn or look, "Memento" gets top billings on many-a-movie fanatic list, yet, I still haven't seen the thing? I'm sooo out of the loop on that, it's a shame.
Herman,
Resident Evil all the way! I must admit that I was a little over this series when I went to see the most recent installment -- Resident Evil: Afterlife in 3D, because portions of the movie looked so cheesy to me but in the end, I still rooted for Alice. Yep.
I don't even know if I should mention being familiar with at least three remaining movies on your list this week and still not having watched them. "Bladerunner" is a classic that I still ignore and "Terminator: Salvation" would have kept me up to date on that franchise. Shame on me!
Maurice,
I apologize for missing your comment. "Memento" is somewhere in my rental queue. I know of a few guys who watched AND enjoyed "Finding Nemo," which hasn't ceased to amaze me. I never considered it to be the type of movie that men would like but I guess that goes to show that any movie that can touch all ages and both genders is a true winner! "Finding Nemo" looked like a cute little movie but I still haven't watched it and probably wouldn't ever guess that it would feature a lost memory element. I might get around to watching "50 First Dates" and then "Memento" (probably in that order) before the animated fish take over my TV screen :)