New Scientist - USA (2020-10-24)

32 | New Scientist | 24 October 2020

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NOLAN is trying to put his life

back together after a car accident

robbed him of his wife and his

memory. His daughter Ava has

to steer him about, though she

is barely old enough for school.

She encourages him to reapply

for his old job. She sets the satnav

for the supermarket. Three times

now, Nolan (Mamoudou Athie)

has forgotten to pick Ava (Amanda

Christine) up from school. It

is more than possible that he

sometimes forgets her existence

altogether. Child services hover.

In desperation, Nolan signs up

for an experimental procedure

promising to put him back in

touch with his memories. It is

a device – the “black box” of

the title – comprising a VR

headset, a computer that looks

(and, given the budget, probably

is) 20 years old and blarney. The

rubric is so arbitrary and playful

(in your subconscious you’ll find a

safe room; in the room, you’ll find

a watch; press the crown to play a

memory; wind forward to move

onto the next), I wondered about

that name: Nolan.

Is Black Box an homage to

Christopher Nolan’s Inception?

That I had time for such idle

musings tells you what is wrong

with this movie. It is wordy.

It explains itself far too much.

Unlike Christopher Nolan, first-

time feature director Emmanuel

Osei-Kuffour is altogether too

hung up on being understood.

Nor (if I am right about the nod

to Inception) is it fair to expect

much by way of homage. Nolan’s

last budget, for Tenet, ran to

$205 million. Osei-Kuffour’s

didn’t. He is the latest director

making films for Blumhouse

Productions, a company that gives

small amounts of money to young

directors, along with artistic

control, and hopes for the best.

A shaky sounding proposition,

for sure. Yet Paranormal Activity,

a 2007 movie from Blumhouse,

was made for $15,000 and has

What memories are not made of Black Box is an intelligent, intriguing and melancholy

science fiction film that plays with identity, fate and death, as the survivor of a car wreck

with no memory must take extreme steps to get his life back, says Simon Ings

“ Should our current

circumstances define

us? Should memories

ever matter more than

our current reality?”

Film

Black Box

Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour

Amazon Prime

Simon also

recommends...

Films

Brainstorm

Douglas Trumbull

“The door to the mind is

open” screamed the poster

for this technologically

prescient 1983 sci-fi shocker

about the relationship

between VR and death. The

mind in question is played

by the peerless Christopher

Walken, so buckle up...

Seconds

John Frankenheimer

An unhappy middle-aged

banker buys a false identity

and a gorgeous new body

(Rock Hudson’s, in fact)

in a paranoid masterpiece

about missed life chances

and medical false promises.

earned nearly $200 million.

Black Box is unlikely to perform

such feats in these covid-19

times. But Amazon Prime’s latest

sci-fi streamer is still a sincere

and watchable piece of work

about identity, fate and death.

Nolan’s trouble is that he

flatlined after the accident, and

no matter how miraculous his

recovery, no matter how hard he

tries, he can’t seem to bring his life

back to life. Even when he starts

having genuine memories of his

own, they are the wrong ones.

Even more terrifying is Lillian,

the clinician running the “black

box” experiment. Anyone who

associates actor Phylicia Rashad

primarily with her role on The

Cosby Show is in for a shock.

All that said, Black Box is out

to make audiences think more

than squeal. Should our current

circumstances define us? Should

our memories ever matter more

than our current reality? And

what might we owe people who

remember us better than we

remember ourselves?

Athie delivers a wonderfully

affecting performance as Nolan,

especially around Ava, the little

girl he can’t accept as his. As

Nolan’s “wrong” memories begin

to kick in, Athie has some subtle

fun playing multiple personalities.

Film-maker David Cronenberg

once said that his favourite

actors were the ones he could

see were actually thinking. Athie

is one of these. And Black Box,

were it not quite so safe, might

bear comparison to an early

Cronenberg outing. As well as

genuine melancholy, there is

an intelligence to the film, and

a puzzle worth unpicking. Osei-

Kuffour is a director to watch. ❚

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

AM

AZ

ON

ST

UD

IOS

Nolan (Mamoudou Athie)

turns to Lillian (Phylicia

Rashad) for help

The film column

Simon Ings is a novelist and

science writer. Follow him on

Instagram at @simon_ings