Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

3/31/18. This was a visual meditation about the importance of memory. When you lose your memory you lose your humanity. There is very little in terms of story lines, just little vignettes of people trying to make it through the day with little memory of who they are and what just happened to them. Very sad. Just think of all these people having Alzheimers and you will understand just how tragic it is to lose one's ability to remember memory. In some ways it's better to have bad memories than to have no memories at all.

This has a feel of old style Sci Fi of new and original ideas that are plausible. The plot is pleasantly original in the genre of post apocalyptic films. Due to the nature of the plot, it's hard for the story to be handed out on a silver platter so a lot of inference and loose ends take place. I feel these do not detract, rather add to the films brilliance. The style is out of the ordinary and unique but there is a story being told that I found both captivating and enjoyable. There is no portion on this film that wasn't expertly executed. Extraordinarily brilliant.

Originality is a rare treat in modern cinema and more likely found in small independent productions. Huge marketing budgets for mainstream movies flood us with hype to overshadow gems like Embers (2015). Labelled a 'sci-fi drama' it is only loosely based on the tropes and conventions of science fiction. Brilliantly filmed against a dystopian background, the essence of the story could have been presented in any timeframe or setting.Embers is a direction-less story framed around several unconnected vignettes that depict daily life for people without memory. It is set at a time and place several years after a devastating global catastrophe unleashed a neurological disease that destroyed memory functions. Amidst the ruins of civilisation, we meet a wealthy father and daughter who have survived the virus by sheltering deep inside their fully equipped high-tech bunker. The bored daughter is desperate to see the outside but the father warns that once she leaves there is no turning back. Outside we encounter several scenarios of victims whose every day starts and ends nowhere in particular because they do not remember their name, where they have been, where they are going or who they are. Their only preoccupation is finding food and staying alive. We see a former professor reading the lines of a book again and again, unable to connect their meaning to anything he learnt before. A small boy wanders from stranger to stranger without fear or memory of where he belongs. A violent youth is in a constant rampage, smashing whatever he can, but he cannot remember what has made him so angry. A couple greet each other every day as if they never met, but sense they might be related only because they are wearing similar wristbands. All are eerie scenarios that hang in limbo without connection to anything or anyone else.This film is an open book to be interpreted as metaphor, philosophy or narrative. By depicting life without memory, we can imagine what would happen if the neurological thread that connects us to time and space suddenly unravelled. Memory is the ultimate hyper-link that connects moments to years, us to others, and a single idea to knowledge of the ages. Unlike instincts in animals, human memory allows complex learning. The professor falls back on instinct when he cannot remember how to chop wood but with axe in hand his body responds in the correct sequence. Without memory, the violent youth cannot control his instinct to destroy, just like nations that do not learn from history and wage wars long after the threat or insult is forgotten. At all levels of interpretation, it is memory that joins the dots of life.The line between science fiction and fantasy rests entirely on plausibility. Putting a sci-fi label on this film has kept it out of view for many audiences. It is a deep, thought-provoking film that is light on action but rich in dialogue that explores a taken-for-granted human function. It is not that far removed from reality, as amnesia or other mental conditions are well known. This film's production values are disproportionate to its budget; it is cleverly filmed and well-acted with a script full of complex ideas that can leave you pondering deeply for days. It's an original gem of a film.

people keep talking about sci-fi this and that. try just looking at the film with clear eyes and mind. try letting go of labels for a change.this film is a magnificent piece of art. very simple moments and premises invoke many important subjects that rule human life - our dreams, fears, desires, instinctive urges and quests.the fragility caused by the disease is just a little more debilitating than our own social and cultural weaknesses (we are destroying our own habitats, food and water supplies with the same amount of surrealness as waking up and not remembering our beloved ones) - but because it differs from the type of madness we are accustomed to, it strikes us more powerfully.also, someone who lives with its eyes opened - to all the alternative realities and possibilities of interpreting the world - will be able to see very subtle and beautiful metaphysical illustrations - things that spiritual laws would define as fate, destiny, karma, magnetism, etc, and that science would ( or will one day) define in other ways.the actors are amazing - especially the guy, girl and chaos - and their presences always generate strong emotions and possibilities. people complain that the movie leads nowhere - it seems like people are no longer satisfied with the possibilities that our imagination can create - through the film, thanks to the film - and all the feelings and images that magically stay in our memories after watching a film. technology and morbid comfort keep turning people into pieces of meat that just expect everything to fall on their laps (this applies to books, music, relationships, etc) and when art does not supply that, in an easy way, they are assaulted by a i-want-my-money- back kind of feeling that just turns to rage against the work of art.thank you, all of you involved in the making of this film, for the visions and dreams that you shared, and for helping keep the flame alive - i also create (or something creates through me) and i will pass it on, somehow."Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion."