Who has seen the Robin Williams movie "The Final Cut"?

Wow... one of those "never heard of it but I'll give it a shot" movies rented as a last resort.

The premise: Robin Williams is a "Cutter"; an editor for "Eye Tech", a company which offers a unique service: a home movie of all your memories, downloaded directly from your brain when you die, for your family to enjoy.

Williams' character specialises in editing a whole lifetime of experiences into a positive, whitewashed two-hour feature film.

But there are issues. One is a growing fundamentalist movement against the use of such technology... a movement which feels that the implant which allows such downloads (which people are given right before birth and aren't made aware of until they turn 21) are an invasion of privacy, could be used nefariously, or, worst of all, influence human behaviour (how would you behave if you knew that everything you'll ever do would be available for viewing by your loved ones?).

The other issue is the unfortunate demise of the head of Eye Tech's legal department. When Williams is chosen to edit the lawyer's memories, he stumbles upon a terrible secret...one that can be used by the massing opponents of Eye Tech's technology.


When I was watching this movie, I thought of several others: Blade Runner, Memento, 12 Monkeys. But it's an excellent, well-crafted, and original story, with a twist on the old "careful what you wish for" addage.

The issues raised by this story are complex and topical. What is privacy? What is intellectual property? Should the "bad" things we do in our lives be whitewashed to the point that our legacy is a fraudulent one of perfection?

I highly recommend this film!!

Sounds like my kind of film.

as far as being set in the "future", the art direction is firmly set in the future of "next week". There's no real indicatior that this is a sci-fi movie, except for the brain implant technology. No big, Hollywood flying cars, sassy robots, or moving sidewalks. In fact, thinking back, I can't think of any CGI in this movie at all.

elevator shaft, how the number of floors changes between Alan's memory and real life. But you're right, overall.

that movie was shot in Vancouver, and the elevator shaft is real. It's in the old Woodwards department store. They just shot the POV of the bottom of the shaft from two different floors... no CGI, just good ol' fashioned "repositioning the camera".

I'm sure there was some CGI in the film... but I just didn't want to giver the impression it was a CGI-dependent sci-fi like "I, Robot" or "AI".

Maybe it's a composite of practical and CGI. Still, it was a good effect, in any case. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I think it was things like those subtle differences in memory (foreshadow: the guy who "mis-remembered" the colour of the boat) which made the story so interesting.