The young amnesiac who awakes in Montreal knowing nothing of himself except that he is gay--the central key to his story--is excellently and sympathetically acted by Dusan Dukic, with generally fine performances by the supporting players as well. The story is a fascinating one, sensitively posing core philosophical questions of the meaning of identity, the effects on a person of suddenly losing it, the rewards and the risks of regaining it, and above all, the ways in which its loss affects one's relationships with others, present and past, and with oneself.
The screenplay successfully avoids the clichés and psycho-babble that can afflict stories of this sort, emphasizing instead the mystery that is at the heart of the tale: how and why has this young man lost his memory? The difficulties everyone has attempting to unravel it comprise most of the plot and consistently hold the viewer's interest.
The film's primary shortcomings are occasionally awkward transitions that can leave the viewer confused, and supporting characters who are too often underdeveloped or ill-explained and who arrive and disappear from the story with frustrating rapidity.
Nevertheless "Amnesia" is a fine film, both entertaining and thought-provoking.
The screenplay successfully avoids the clichés and psycho-babble that can afflict stories of this sort, emphasizing instead the mystery that is at the heart of the tale: how and why has this young man lost his memory? The difficulties everyone has attempting to unravel it comprise most of the plot and consistently hold the viewer's interest.
The film's primary shortcomings are occasionally awkward transitions that can leave the viewer confused, and supporting characters who are too often underdeveloped or ill-explained and who arrive and disappear from the story with frustrating rapidity.
Nevertheless "Amnesia" is a fine film, both entertaining and thought-provoking.