Title: The Final Cut
Year: 2004
Genre: C. Fiction, Thriller
Director: Omar Naim
Writer: Omar Naim
Runtime: 104min
Cast: Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Mimi Kuzyk, Stephanie Romanov, Michael St. John Smith
Produc.: Lions Gate Entertainment, Cinerenta Medienbeteiligungs KG, Industry Entertainment, Final Cut Productions
In The
final cut, in a world where memories are retained by memory implants, Alan
Hakman is a cutter specialized in compressing thousands of hours of material to
only reduced segments, once we have died.
Sometimes a film goes unnoticed. What ends up
being a real injustice, if the argument had been good, as in the case of
director Omar Naim, who would have to be satisfied with only four weeks in the theaters.
In October of 2004, this is what would happen
with the latest of Robin Williams, who personified Alan Hakman, a cutter of
other lives memories. Something very, very delicate.
The film took us into an imaginary reality,
where only some, those who could afford it, would have the access to memory
implants, invention developed by the program Zoe, whose function was to
record everything captured by our eyes, since our birth until our death.
Hence, that the big question here were of an ethical issue.
Coexist all life with a sort of chip, device,
or whatever one wish to call it, had initially got a fairly useful purpose. When
we died, the implant would be delivered to a cutter (in this case, Robin
Williams), who, from his editting room would see the material, would select what
believed to be more enjoyable and appropriate, and delete everything else. The
chosen selection would be projected at the funeral´s "rememorial", a
couple of hours screening, where those present would see the deceased loved
one, to remember him in the best way.
The idea in itself, did not appear to be bad.
Attending to a relative or friend´s velatory, in a moment when we were wrecked,
and suddenly see him laughing one last time. To enjoy the best of his
childhood, adolescence or adulthood. All very nice.
But none of this took away, that the
experiences recorded in the chip would no longer be personal. Whatever we did,
from the most trivial to the least, or even the most horrible things,
everything would be, in the end, a great movie to be seen by a cutter, who have
to avoid any kind of value judgment and never speak up about it. The question here, then
would be, with what right?
If the deceased had been, for example, a
murderer or a rapist, it would just be enough to push a button to dismiss all
the evidence, thereby creating a false image of someone who would be remembered,
not for what he had been, but for what would be seen in the lie of his montaje.
In the film, Mira Sorvino would be Delila, and
Jim Caviezel, Fletcher. She would work to Allan as an emotional support, and
he, as a problem. Of Delila could be added, that we missed to know more about
her character. About Fletcher, just that, he is who would endeavor to purchase
the latest implant obtained by Alan, corresponding to some Charles Bannister (Michael St. John Smith), a
deceased offender.
Finally, it could be emphasized, that while it
has been a quite original concept, the story written by Omar Naim has a small
inconsistency. Since the chip keeps such long records, it is intriguing how a
cutter might be able to see all this stuff in such a short notice, before a
funeral. A mistake that, although takes away some realism to the plot, it is
more convenient to ignore it and give the approval to the director, given his attempt.
As a curiosity, only to say that this would be
the second of Robin Williams´s forays in the science fiction genre, in a feature
film, but, above all, touching controversial matters. He had earlier been an extraterrestrial
in the serie Mork and Mindy (1978-1982), but this, being a comedy. However,
his previous dramatic work, also on issues in dispute, had been the 1999, Chris
Columbus flick, Bicentennial Man, where Williams was a robot.
My rating: 7/10
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