Memory Dissection
记忆切割
China, 2021, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 89 mins.
Director: Guo Jinglin 果靖霖.
Rating: 3/10.
Feebly written psychothriller is sunk by a ridiculous plot and a nothing role for actress Guo Caijie [Amber Kuo].
STORY
Wuhu city, Anhui province, eastern China, the present day. Dong (Guo Jinglin), a noted professor of biotechnology, has discovered how to erase animals’ memories. He’s visited by Liu Mei (Liu Xuehua), the owner of a wine-cellar restaurant who is also a volunteer worker at a welfare home; for the past 10 years she has been the psychiatric counsellor of Zhang Xin’er (Guo Caijie), 21, who was traumatised by an unexplained event when she was eight years old. Liu Mei became her counsellor after Zhang Xin’er’s parents both died and she was sent to a welfare home. Zhang Xin’er’s memory was affected by the event, to the extent that she can’t even remember what her parents looked like. She has a tendency to self-harm, is especially afraid of dogs, and for most of the time lives in her own world like a child. Dong refuses to help her as his memory-erasing procedure has never been used on humans and could be dangerous, especially with deeply-buried memories. After Zhang Xin’er temporarily goes missing, and Liu Mei keeps nagging him, Dong agrees to help. In his lab, he and his team recreate the events of that day when Zhang Xin’er was eight in her home village; members of Dong’s staff play her parents, hoping to jog her memory. The initial session, which reveals Zhang Xin’er was being used by her parents to deliver drugs to a man in the village known as Fourth Uncle (Xu Zheng), seems to go well but doesn’t completely cure her. Liu Mei pays Dong for a second session, which is more traumatic; the memories are also different, and include her parents being shot by a man, who may be called Caicai. Liu Mei insists that Caicai was the name of the family’s dog; but she refuses to tell Dong how Zhang Xin’er’s parents died. Liu Mei reveals, however, that Zhang Xin’er’s mother, He Qin (Wang Xinyi), was her younger sister and that He Qin had once told her how she had been sexually assaulted by a young man whom she liked; he had promised to marry her afterwards but instead went abroad, and He Qin had ended up marrying an abusive drug addict. Hearing this, Dong is shaken by a sudden realisation. He offers to do a third session with Zhang Xin’er. This time her memories of the day are more benevolent and Dong pronounces her cured. But then she suddenly regresses.
REVIEW
The feebly written Memory Dissection 记忆切割 does little for the film career of Taiwan actress-singer Guo Caijie 郭采洁 [Amber Kuo], whose Mainland profile peaked with the Tiny Times 小时代 quartet (2013-15) and whose last decent role was four years ago in goofy cookery comedy The One 绝世高手 (2017). Centred on a young woman with a traumatic childhood memory, it’s a poor entry even in the undistinguished sub-genre of Mainland memory-thrillers (The Great Hypnotist 催眠大师, 2014; Battle of Memories 记忆大师, 2017). The directing debut of Mainland actor Guo Jinglin 果靖霖, 51 – who also co-starred and wrote the script – it crashed on release this spring with a tiny RMB3.9 million, more fitting to a low-budget, no-name horror movie.
Beijing-born Guo – who’s also known under the identically-sounding names 果静林 and 果静临 – has worked more in TV but has done some solid stuff over the years in films (the conflicted prison officer in Brother 黑暗中的救赎, 2012; the caring father in Einstein and Einstein 狗13, 2013; Jiang Jieshi in The Secret of China 红星照耀中国, 2019). In a more extrovert role than usual, he plays a biotechnology professor who claims to have discovered how to erase animals’ memories and is then approached by a welfare-home volunteer to use the procedure on a young woman she’s been counselling for the past decade.
It’s an okay idea for a psychodrama but, from the beginning, the film is unsure of its tone (early scenes between the wacky prof and equally strong-minded counsellor are semi-comedic) and poorly backgrounded (the scientific detail is woolly in the extreme). As the layers of deception are peeled back, there’s one decent twist halfway through; but otherwise the exposition and development are clumsily written and the third act, with all its revelations, is decidedly anti-climactic. Guo also co-scripted the drama Golden Grain 麦穗黄了 (2019, dir. Zhou Youchao 周友朝) but clearly isn’t up to solo writing a genre item like Memory Dissection. Whether due to the editing by Hong Kong’s experienced Xu Hongyu 许宏宇 [Derek Hui] or not, the film barely has enough content to reach 90 minutes, even including some very slow end titles lasting six minutes.
Cherub-faced Guo, now in her mid-30s, convincingly plays a young woman in her early 20s but doesn’t have much to do other than wander around looking dazed. With a role that doesn’t play to her cookie/tomboy strengths, she makes less impression here than even in the bloodless melodrama The Story of Xi Bao 喜宝 (2020). Guo’s best scenes are opposite Beijing-born, long offshore-based actress Liu Xuehua 刘雪华, 61, as the counsellor with an agenda, who almost makes the loopy plot believable. Mainland comedian/director Xu Zheng 徐峥 cameos briefly as a village bad guy.
On the technical side, the film is never less than well-tailored, with the widescreen photography by d.p. Zhang Yang 张杨 making the most of locations around Wuhu city, on the Yangtze, in Anhui province, as well as glossy aerial shots (by Zhu Jingping 朱靖平) that show off the city like a travel brochure. The orchestral score by Cheng Yu 程予 is okay and restrained, apart from o.t.t. heavenly choirs at the end. The memory sequences, which mix the main cast with other players, thankfully go easy on VFX – at least until the loony finale.
In one curious scene, Guo’s character buys a boat ticket on the Yangtze to Quanzhou, Fujian province, which is well over 1,000 kilometres away on the Pacific coast.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film (CN), Xi’an Qujiang Shibang Culture Film & TV Production (CN). Produced by Xi’an Qujiang Shibang Culture Film & TV Production (CN).
Script: Guo Jinglin. Photography: Zhang Yang. Aerial photography: Zhu Jingping. Editing: Xu Hongyu [Derek Hui], Li Ruiliang. Music: Cheng Yu. Art direction: E’erduntu. Costumes: Chen Hongfei. Styling: Yu Jia. Sound: Lv Yan, Ding Yaheng, Liu Jiang. Special effects: Liu Fei. Visual effects: Wang Liang (JL Pictures). Executive direction: Liu Jiapeng.
Cast: Guo Caijie [Amber Kuo] (Zhang Xin’er), Guo Jinglin (Dong, professor), Liu Xuehua (Liu Mei), Xu Zheng (Fourth Uncle), Huaduo (young Zhang Xin’er), Guo Ziyu (young Dong), Wang Xinyi (He Qin), Cheng Yancheng (bar owner), Ma Yunyun (Xiaoxuan), Geng Yizhi (Xiaoqiang), Sun Shengjie (Xiaokai), Liu Jiapeng (policeman), Zhu Laicheng, Lou Chaoxi, Wang Wei (majiang players).
Release: China, 23 Apr 2021.