If you want to take a shallow view of how today’s Be Reel amnesia trifecta ended up all falling in the 1996-2001 range, blame it on two hosts in their early-30s. But we would argue there was something in the water in the five-year window that gave us “Memento” (2001), “Mulholland Drive” (2001), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996), not to mention the first of the ‘Bourne‘ movies. These forgetful puzzlers—most especially Christopher Nolan’s “Memento,” now 20-years-old—double as repression thrillers.
LISTEN: The Man Who Would Be Caine [Be Reel Podcast]
In today’s show, we make the case that amnesia was the chosen screenplay tool to argue for unrestrained violence beneath the surface of the late-Clinton, pre-9/11 era. For artists like Nolan, David Lynch, and Shane Black, things might’ve felt too … fine. Time for our movies to remind us who we really are.
Burning questions on today’s Amnesia Pod include:
- Would Christopher Nolan ever make a movie as seedy as “Memento” again?
- How do we discuss a David Lynch classic laden with competing interpretations, plus the creeping suggestion that we should quit our interpreting altogether?
- Was Geena Davis the action star that the mid-’90s needed but didn’t deserve?
As always, Be Reel is part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes The Playlist Podcast, The Discourse, The Fourth Wall, and more—and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thank you for listening.