Previously Saved Version

Story: It is the year 2200 and humanity has only a few spots left on earth where people can actually live. The rich have therefore built their houses in space all around the earth. Rotation creates artificial gravity and everything necessary is grown in greenhouses or is produced in a 3D printer. Naoki (Hideaki Ito) is one of those people who have built up an existence in space. Together with his wife, the pottery maker Mayumi (Yûko Araki), he leads a seemingly happy life. However, Mayumi has memory gaps, as she was in a coma for some time after a tsunami. Again and again, she has nightmares in which her husband kills her. One day, Naoki finally shows his dissatisfaction and says that Mayumi is not his real wife. He then kills her. Mayumi is not a real human, though, but an android which had the memories of Naoki's wife implanted. Naoki tries to find out why he can't believe the android to be his wife. He suspects that maybe he should use a version of Mayumi's memories in which the two hadn't been together that long yet. Apart from his issues with the android, he also has a big secret ...

Review: "Previously Saved Version" immediately manages to captivate you with its visuals. The circular, rotating structures around the earth, in which people live after the earth has become mostly uninhabitable, the flashbacks to earth, where Thailand seems to be one of the few countries you can still live in, as well as the virtual reality, in which you can meet your doctor/therapist as well as simply take a relaxing trip to the earth of days gone by - all this is extremely appealing. This science fiction flick is definitely promising and apparently it also tries to make a few philosophical detours to the question of what life actually means. Unfortunately, the promising ideas are ruined by a story that fails to really draw us in. And that's despite the fact that it's actually an interesting idea to put a love story in the center, which of course still has a few dark surprises in store. However, it simply lacks the necessary suspense or well-written characters to keep us happy.

The movie already starts in an odd way by apparently giving us a forty-five minute long introduction. Only then is it revealed to us that Mayumi is not actually human. Was that supposed to be a surprise? Probably not. After all, the movie title already reveals too much for that. In the sci-fi genre, fans have already been familiar with the idea that consciousness and memories can be uploaded to a new body, possibly that of an android, for ages - especially in the cyberpunk genre it is a popular motif. So, this is not particularly unusual, and after the first strange vision/memory that plagues Mayumi, we already know what the story is all about. Therefore, all that's left to pique our interest might be the relationship of the "married couple" and the circumstances that led to the death of the real Mayumi. At the beginning, there are also enough questions that demand some answers, and the various flashbacks promise to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, the two characters don't turn out to be interesting enough to actually win us over.

As a person who is potentially the movie's villain, Hideaki Ito ("The Legend and Butterfly") has to give his role something mysterious. That's a pity, because it creates a certain distance, although there is a fascinating idea hidden in his character. He wants his wife back, but at the slightest sign that something might be wrong, he suspects that there must have been problems with the memory transfer. Eventually, he wants to choose an earlier "saving point", one in which the relationship between Naoki and Mayumi wasn't yet so problematic. Because numerous flashbacks gradually show us how the couple met and where the first cracks in their relationship started to happen. Thus, Naoki could actually be a pitiful man, even though it turns out that he has problems keeping his temper. There are also a few short moments and of course the finale, in which a more complex character shines through, but what we get to see stays below what would have been necessary to convey the story properly.

Obviously, the person you can actually relate to is Mayumi, embodied by Yuko Araki ("Once Upon a Crime"), but there are also problems with her character. When she finds out that she is an android, she doesn't seem to care that much. It could/should cause an existential crisis or at least open up room for a few philosophical questions, but instead she just takes it pretty calmly. Furthermore, you have to ask yourself how Naoki thought he could keep it a secret from Mayumi that she is an android if androids have white "blood". To be fair, though, it must be mentioned that there are some moments in which a few more philosophical questions are briefly addressed. But the ideas are only touched upon, as if the movie had better things to do than to deal with these topics - which it doesn't ... The entire story, which was written by director Kei Ishikawa and Brad Wright, who is responsible for numerous episodes of various "Stargate" shows, falls short of its potential. So much so that you think it would have been better if the two had just stolen a few good ideas and thrown them together.

However, "Previously Saved Version" generally deserves praise for its special effects and its images that make you feel like you are watching a blockbuster movie here. Mostly, the world is just sketched out, but in a believable and coherent manner, meaning that you are generally willing to continue following the story. The flashbacks also partly manage to satisfy our curiosity, nevertheless, after the nice little story - which is rather of the romantic drama kind - has been told, there is still too much empty space left that needs to be filled. But the characters are constructed too weakly to achieve this, and the finale also shows that the story isn't able to do what it apparently set out to do. Sci-fi movies don't always have to have epic proportions, and especially a love story with strong thriller elements could find other ways to pay off. Sadly, "Previously Saved Version" disappoints in this respect as it does not know how to use its strengths and its few nice ideas.

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