Apples, the directorial debut from Christos Nikou, couldn’t have arrived at a more perfect time. In any other year, the filmmaker’s esoteric sensibilities would have made for a hyper-realised slice of fiction but, instead, the film resonates with an eerie relevance to today’s world.
The conceit for Apples is a pandemic. It’s not exactly a coronavirus outbreak, but there’s an unexplained spike in amnesia cases in Greece; scientists and medical professionals don’t really know why it’s happening and, in an analogue society where social media doesn’t dictate every moment of these panicked lives, people seem to have just accepted the existence of epidemic and learned to live with it. The Disturbed Memory Department offers unclaimed patients the chance to start anew with the “New Identity Programme”, something that Aris (Aris Servetalis) is put on after he remains unidentified by any family or friends. He’s given banal tasks to document like mingling at a party, going fishing, getting a lap dance as he tries to remember how to fit into society once again.
Despite taking place in a world devoid of mobile devices, where things are documented on polaroids and cassette tapes rather than tweets and selfies, Apples has a lot to say about how so much of who we are is dictated by our digital presence – with social media acclimating us to log every second of every day, a mind-numbing extent that sucks the joy out of everything we do. Are photos memories? How does such documentation benefit our experiences? Nikou’s narrative allows for such fascinating meditation on memory and identity and the struggle of forging your own individuality and presence in a tech-savvy world.
The deadpan humour and absurdist approach make it all the more enjoyable a commentary. Anyone watching will be able to pick up on the similarities between Nikou and Lanthimos and it makes sense considering the former was an assistant director on Dogtooth. At its worst though, Apples plays like Lanthimos’ now-distinct filmmaking technique that can keep audiences at arms reach with its surrealist style. At its best though, Nikou offers a compelling and enjoyable exploration of its themes through the lens of a pandemic with a great deal of sincerity and wisdom that is absent from his mentor’s endeavours. At a time where most people are probably feeling alienated by the current situation of the world, Apples offers a relatable story of loneliness and finding one’s place in a world that is slowly slipping out of their grasp.
It’s not always the most involving or propulsive story (running its concept thin by the end of its brief 90-minute runtime), made up mostly of harmless scenes of Aris just doing things that a person without memory would. Experiencing a movie for the first time again; having sex at a random costume party; getting acquainted with other amnesiacs. But it’s still a charming watch nonetheless. Most of all, it does something so rare in a film these days: it allows the viewer to step in and put their own experiences and emotions into Aris who drifts through his days feeling as many of us probably do right now. It manages to make something quite endearing out of its nihilism. One thing is undeniable: Apples couldn’t be more perfectly-timed.
Apples
Summary
Apples offers a relatable story of loneliness and finding one’s place in a world that is slowly slipping out of their grasp.
Apples plays at the 2021 Glasgow Film Festival.
