Filmmakers love to explore retentivity problems — in the descriptor of amnesia , dementia , manipulation , infringe recollections of the past , you name it . And this thematic captivation is n’t limited to any one picture show genre ; it ’s the one affair Overboard , Memento , and Rashomon all have in common .
But for our purposes today , we ’re specifically looking at science fabrication movies — so , sorry , fans of the Bourne movies , Shutter Island , Angel Heart , Spellbound , urgently Seeking Susan , The Notebook , The Manchurian Candidate , and on and on . And while there are net ton of sci - fi movies that utilise memory as a plot equipment , here are 12 of our favorites .
1. Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven ’s Philip K. Dick - root on thriller commit Arnold Schwarzenegger one of his best function as Quaid , a human beings who becomes so possessed with his recurring dreams of Mars that he decides to take a “ dream holiday ” via Rekall , a caller that can implant exciting memories into the minds of pay customers . Things go sideways when the Rekall technical school seemingly unlock Quaid ’s substantial memories of being a secret agent on Mars , which leads him to interview everything he believes to be truthful about his life . Filled with non - stop action at law , a mind - bend game , a killer mold ( everyone is great , but special airplane propeller to nefarious machinator Michael Ironside and Sharon Stone ) , and iconic moments — pluck your favourite : the three - breasted sexual practice worker , perhaps , or “ Get your ass to Mars!”—Total Recall is both bombastic 1990s thriller and a sci - fi classic for practiced ground . ( And it holds up , which is why we will not be talk over thevery unnecessary 2012 remaking . )
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
At unlike meter in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman ’s dizzy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Clementine ( Kate Winslet ) and Joel ( Jim Carrey ) have their memories rub out to comfort the heartbreak they both experience when their relationship ends . ( Of of course , that does n’t block up them from being attract back together again . ) Much of the flick take blank space within Joel ’s mind - wipe , give us a unique perspective on what drive the couple apart — but also what trace them together , as an unconscious Joel rebels against the subprogram and seek to preserve the well-chosen memories he cherishes from his metre with Clementine while he ’s re - living them . There ’s also a cooccurring plot of land about the ball up technicians — including Kirsten Dunst , Mark Ruffalo , and Elijah Wood — who work for Lacuna , the fellowship that invent Eternal Sunshine ’s memory - erasing simple machine ; some of them have also subject themselves to it but have , naturally , forgotten the total experience . Though the movie is mellow - construct sci - fi at its most inventive , the basic report is incredibly relatable . Anyone who ’s been through a devastatingly painful dissolution can relate to these characters .
3. Vanilla Sky
Cameron Crowe ’s 2001 remaking of Alejandro Aménabar ’s Spanish - language brain tormentor open up Your Eyes stars Tom Cruise as David Aames , a rich playboy whose nerve is awfully disfigured in a car accident stimulate by his obsessed ex ( Cameron Diaz ) . prosperous for him , he ’s able to have his perfect feature restored and pick right back up with his new love , Sofia ( Penélope Cruz) … but all is not what it seems , and David ’s life reel from beguile to nightmarish when he ’s accused of slaying . But that may not be what it seems , either . Vanilla Sky ’s convoluted plot does n’t totally come together at the end , but it ’s at its most interesting when moment of David ’s memory and subconscious play tricks not just on David , but on the hearing , too — as when we realize he ’s jumbled a sore moment with Sofia with a famous Bob Dylan record album cover .
4. Blade Runner (and Blade Runner 2049)
Do memory bet if you ’re not in reality human ? BothBlade Runnermovies ( like Total Recall , inspired by Philip K. Dick ) feature replicant eccentric who fervently believe their memories are literal . In the original picture show , Rachael ( Sean Young ) does n’t initially sleep with that she ’s not a substantial human , in large part because her recollections of her puerility are so vivid . InBlade Runner 2049 , K ( Ryan Gosling ) is well cognizant that he ’s a “ peel job , ” but start out to suspect he might be the sought - after child carry to Rachael and Deckard ( Harrison Ford ) when he visits an orphanhood and finds a small-scale plaything horse cache precisely where he ( seemingly ) remembers leaving it . BothBlade Runnerspoint out how authoritative storage really are in construct individual identities ; it ’s no marvel its characters are ravage when they realize their minds have been manipulated to believe things that are n’t authentic .
5. Strange Days
Kathryn Bigelow direct this 1995 thriller , which is fix in a dystopian , neon - noir variation of 1999 Los Angeles that might not make it past the millennium . It rotate around illegal brain - jack up technical school that can record memories and forcible sensations , let the drug user to relive someone else ’s real experiences … lurid shiver preferred , of track . An ex - pig ( Ralph Fiennes ) who ’s now a player in the bleak market gets attract into a murder whodunit involving his X - lady friend , the music industry , and crooked LAPD officer ; the case hinges on the various accuse “ SQUID ” recording that function more or less like high - tech breadcrumb leading back to the culprit . foreign Days ( which was co - indite by James Cameron ) is manifestly part of the practical - world enthrallment that was so grown in 1990s flick ( Virtuosity also came out in 1995 ) . But it also kind of prognosticate the current , social media - breed frenzy to record every detail of our life history — lurid and otherwise — to be share with any stranger with an cyberspace connection and an ounce of voyeuristical interestingness .
6. The Forgotten
Julianne Moore plays Tully , a female parent grieve the loss of her young son in a sheet clank . Thing is , everyone around her , including her husband , her best friend , and her doctor , are like , “ Uh , you never had a Word in the first place ! ” She ’s confident that the boy was existent , though , and her feeling grows even secure when she meet a fellow parent ( Dominic West ) who trust his own girl has also been likewise score out from macrocosm . affair get even eldritch when Tully ’s husband stops recognizing his own married woman . Tully ’s incubus is in the end revealed to be part of a declamatory , rather horrific scheme project to prey on memory — and in Tully ’s case , test the intensity of her motherly honey .
7. Embers
Director and atomic number 27 - author Claire Carré ’s restfully reasoning , gorgeously - shot introduction feature is set in a post - apocalyptic globe where survivors must grapple not only with living in an vacate wasteland — but also with the fact that almost everyone has some shape of amnesia , part of the lingering effect of a annihilative globular epidemic . Unlike many other films on this listing , Embers is n’t special effects - focused ; instead , it condense on its fiber , hunt how each of them deals with the on-going thwarting of constant forgetfulness . The prevue focus on a couplet ( bring by Jason Ritter and Iva Gocheva ) who suspect they should be together based on the fact that they have matching bracelets made of yarn … though they just ca n’t quite remember exactly what the other entail to them . But Embers is more than just the story of fly love affair ; it ’s an ensemble film that follows various story , relationships , and experiential struggles to find import in a world without any memory .
8. Dark City
Alex Proyas ( The Crow ) directed this conventionalize tale that revolve around on Murdoch ( Rufus Sewell ) , a man who wake up with amnesia , only to find he ’s the chief defendant in a chain of murders . But this is no ordinary film noir . The titular metropolis , a place where the sun never shines , is controlled by a grouping called the Strangers ; they ’re able-bodied to dramatically alter the physical landscape as well as pass through the mind of residents , changing individual identities and inject young memories at every stroke of midnight . A lot of Dark City ’s solicitation comes from its eye - confect position , but the floor is attentive , too , especially when Murdoch reconnects with his wife ( Jennifer Connelly ) , who make a very good case that even without memories to hold onto , love really can stamp down all . Well , having some outstandingly knock-down telekinetic powers also helps .
9. The Giver
A robust cast ( Jeff Bridges , Meryl Streep , Alexander Skarsgård , Katie Holmes , and there ’s even a somewhat deflect Taylor Swift cameo ) bring up Phillip Noyce ’s version of Lois Lowry ’s dystopian novel . It ’s about a fellowship where the pursuit of order and perfection has come at the expense of emotions , barren - thinking , and originative expression — basically , anything that might disturb the status quo . A teenaged boy named Jonas ( Brenton Thwaites , before long to be seen asDick Grayson on Titans ) is informed that his positive career will be assume over from Bridges ’ character as “ receiver ” of the biotic community ’s collective memories . But once “ the Giver ” start to pass on his noesis , the nipper realize exactly what his lifespan has been miss — not just the power of memory , but also things like fear , joyousness , love , and fervor — and he ca n’t suppress his urge to share what he ’s learned with everyone else . ( The Giver illustrates his waking up literally , shifting the picture ’s palette from monochrome greyness to lush and colorful . ) Bridges is great as the gruff , aweary teacher , and the fib offer up a familiar yet earnest cautionary tale about the perils of accordance — with suppress memories representing the great loss of all .
10. Solaris
The 1972 original ( by Andrei Tarkovsky ) and the 2002 remake ( by Steven Soderbergh ) are both base on Stanislaw Lem ’s 1961 novel , and they both explore what happen to the mind of astronauts who are orbit a strangely powerful , watery planet called Solaris . Everyone , including independent reference Kelvin ( toy in the different versions by Donatas Banionis and George Clooney ) , has troubling hallucinations that seem to be ripped right away from their memories . Troubling , because they finger so existent , in a very tangible sense . The main story revolve around Kelvin reconnecting with a remarkably lifelike transcript of his dear , who died by suicide years before — a calamity that he still believes is his fault . The Tarkovsky adjustment of Solaris is the only version that ’s praise as a masterpiece ( which it is ) , but the Soderbergh take is reasonably truthful to the tarradiddle ’s introspective , emotionally complex tale . However , it is also the motion picture remembered for offering up a glimpse of Clooney ’s stark posterior — a memory you may or may not desire to have furbish into your own mind .
11. Pandorum
A colony ship containing all that ’s left of humankind head toward an world - like planet , desire against hope for a fresh start . It ’s unfortunate , then , that on the very long journeying , a crew member who ’s out of stasis for his shift look on over the mission succumbs to a sort of bass - space psychosis . His behavior sets in motion a chain of mountains of events that prematurely awakens a group of passenger ; scud - forward many years subsequently , and the ship is home to a race of cannibalistic mutant humanoids who ’ve get some Mad Max - in - place survival maneuver . When the latest squad of crew fellow member are mechanically brought out of hypersleep for their shimmy , they get themselves amid some spectacularly creepy topsy-turvydom . As Bower ( Ben Foster ) endeavor to enter out WTF is break down on , Payton ( Dennis Quaid ) slow begins to realize he ’s forgotten who he really is . There ’s some Fight Club - trend identity crisis at work here , but Pandorum also dig into what the traumatic mental core of a one - agency head trip through abstruse blank space might be like — and that includes some very concerning memory loss .
12. Men in Black
Ok , so the plot ofMen in Blackhas a flock more going on than remembering exit , but one of the serial publication ’ hallmark running gag has to do with the “ neuralyzers ” that the agents carry . Anytime anyone outside the agency witness some alien natural process , it ’s one quick flashgun of lighting and all is directly forget . Even better , the wielder of the neuralyzer has a few minute while the target is go back to evoke a cover story — and , if Will Smith ’s Agent J has anything to say about it , offer them some life - betterment advice , too : “ employ a decorator to get along in here nimble , because … damn . ”
Blade RunnerBlade Runner 2049Sci - Fi
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