An SBS special documentary, “The Age of Immortality Part 1: Machine Man – Cyborg and Digital Twin,” was aired last summer. I now recall the discourse raised in the program.
Many of the stories about robots and cyborgs are set in the future of science fiction. Many things remain in the unknown realm. However, we live in a world where the AI supercomputer won the game of Go against humans, and computer-generated avatars mimicked human features by deep learning. From the current standpoint, we may be much closer to the dream of a machine human.
The last step to reach perfect replication from imitation remains in the realm of human memory. A machine-human who can’t preserve memory is just a machine covered with human skin. So the field of science and technology aims to create a digital twin that accurately represents a human with memory.
The story of [On Your Memory] is about Mina, who has a hard time accepting the sudden death of Kitae, a newly-recruited astronaut. From his belongings, she finds a robot that she worked on with him and reboots it.
Plots such as breaking taboos and borrowing some supernatural power to revive a loved one are clichés for melodrama that can touch almost everyone’s heart. People are easily empathized with the character’s situation, including the heartbreaking loss of a lover and the longing and remorse from the memories of the loved one.
Mina discovers traces of love in the robot’s memory. This sci-fi rendition of melodramatic cliché adds more fun to the story. The man is in the form of a weird-looking robot. However, it contains precious memory of the two backed up in the machine. Stick to the basic formula and structure of scenario, the director successfully realized the narrative arc and the elevation of emotions within a short running time.
The director has never lost sight of the main theme in every scene and meticulously considered lingering impressions after the ending. A few excessive development and behaviors might have been inevitable to compress the story into a short running time. Unfortunately, the choice doesn’t look sophisticated.
For example, there is no proper explanation about emotional upheaval and violent behavior after the collision between Hyunju and the robot. The fast-paced storytelling makes it hard for viewers to follow the speed of characters’ emotional changes, making them detached and separated from the story.
Suppose the director portrayed the emotional curve of characters with signs and metaphors at a proper speed. Then, the narrative could have been much solid. In this context, “Be Right Back,” an episode from [Black Mirror], a sci-fi Netflix series, will be an excellent reference. The episode is about reincarnating a dead husband through digital big data.
Despite some room for improvement in direction and drawing, [On Your Memory] is still an interesting piece of work. Based on the solid narrative structure and the subject matter with universal appeal, the director completed an animation that every audience can relate to and be absorbed instantly.
As the adult’s SF genre isn’t prevalent in Korea, I want to give my full support to this work. I also hope that every trial and error and know-how in this animation is backed up well in the director’s memory and transplanted to better outcomes in the future.
SONG Lackhyun (Animation Producer)
[Information]
- Title: On Your Memory
- Director: YANG Hyo-cheol
- Synopsis:
Mina feels lost and can’t accept the unexpected death of Kitae, an astronaut to Mars. She finds the robot she built with him from his possessions. She reboots the robot stuck in storage.
- Director’s Statement:
Thinking about the next project, I looked back at what I had made until then. I got the idea of combining my favorite SF genre with melodrama with male and female characters, which I was not very good at. I took up a challenge this time.
- Link:
