I craved to bring up this movie since the moment I first watched it. Then forgot about it, and then remembered it. And tonight, I’ll finally do it. Not only for its concept and the themes within it, which were what most drew my attention at first, but also for the characters, whom I now esteem.
Re/Member is a Japanese Horror movie on Netflix that came out in the year 2022. Its story takes place at a school and revolves around a group of students that were somehow “selected” to participate in a paranormal “game”, over and over again, until they complete the mission - which is to find and return all the body parts of a dismembered little girl while they’re being chased to be killed. The day repeats itself for the duration of it, resetting each morning, though they retain their agency within it and, for better or for worse, can bring about certain changes.
Initially confused about why and how they’re there, and with their distinct personalities, they go through each night and increasingly figure out ways to work together. What could be assumed to be a tediously repetitive task turns into a challenge filled with novelty - rarely a dull moment as they continue to learn about the situation, the enemy, themselves, and what’s behind all of it.
Beyond that, though not that likely to dislike each other outside of it, if they hadn’t been sucked into this bizarre realm, they might have never been this united. Ironically, that’s the silver lining to this scattered mess and something they later come to appreciate and even hold on to.
What’s crazy is that it seems impossible to leave, to escape to a normal existence or to at last have a “tomorrow”. They’ve wanted and they’ve tried to, some more than others, but they remain stuck. As if the spiral they are ascending through, with the lessons and development they’re getting, won’t let them go and move on until it is completely done with them.
Yet, the question arises of what it’ll even be like once it’s all over. There’s the chance of forgetting and parting ways as if none of this ever happened. But there's hope of meeting again and remembering, though the memories may come back slowly.
It’s a scary thought, if you’ve grown fond of another, that they may become a stranger to you. That you’ll remember moments that they don’t or that they deny. As if part of a trauma that their psyche buries in self-preservation or a taboo topic that they’d rather not touch. And that by starting from “zero”, you might just drift away despite your efforts not to. Something should click at one point or another, so that the past isn’t completely erased and you’re not with a person you don’t recognize, even if at the beginning you can be no more than cordially acquainted.
Or what’s worse: the possibility of waking up and realizing it was all a fever dream.
One of them promises another that they’ll find each other, but this is received with skepticism. His childhood friend, who for years has been “invisible” to him, while wishing for the opposite, expects that to again be the case. It would seem that, for him to keep his promise, their bond would have to be significant enough to be recalled yet still requires some sort of “trigger”. But who knows how it’ll unfold from there…
If something like this happened to you, what do you believe would be an effective trigger for you to regain your ties? Would you rather remember the events or forget them? And if you’re remembering them, do you prefer to bring up as much as possible and as soon as possible, take them by bits every once in a while, or somewhere in between?