Total (Lack of) Recall

As the nation enters the opening rounds of the 2004 presidential campaign, Hollywood responds by churning out what it does best: escapism, lightweight romantic comedies, serial killer thrillers, and amnesia.

Following in the tradition of Memento and the recent Paycheck, at least three upcoming major releases focus on the theme of memory and its manipulation or elimination, a reflection, perhaps, of the total lack of recall of the American public and the current administration's glee at manipulating recent history. To fill the gap of memory, the screens will be clogged with the usual romantic comedies, with an emphasis on variations of the commoner/royalty scenario made famous in the 1953 Audrey Hepburn gem Roman Holiday. But not all female roles will be of the gamine variety; the genres of many new releases may be macho, but the gender of the leading role will be female.

January

Hepburn's delightful caprice gets a virtual remake in Chasing Liberty (January 9), in which the president's daughter, Mandy Moore, slips away from her Secret Service protectors during a European trip and engages in a liaison with a mysterious stranger played by Matthew Goode. It's TV director Andy Cadiff's first feature.

The hero's life gets a virtual remake in Mackye Gruber & Eric Bress's The Butterfly Effect (January 23), in which Ashton Kutcher plays a troubled man who travels back in time to undo all the bad things that messed him up in childhood. Unfortunately, every change he makes causes something new that's worse.

It's probably just as well, then, that Robert McNamara doesn't have the chance to go back in time and undo his problems as secretary of defense during the Vietnam War. His account in Errol Morris's The Fog of War (January 23) might help us avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future. So would watching the films about current world crises featured in this year's Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

February

One of the advantages of having no memory is that every experience seems new, no matter how often repeated. What a boon that would be to filmmakers, but for now it's just the premise behind 50 First Dates (February 13), in which Adam Sandler plays a roué who falls in love with a woman (Drew Barrymore) suffering from short-term memory disorder. Peter Segal (Anger Management) directs.

Suffering from the opposite problem is Uma Thurman's avenging assassin in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2 (February 20), who won't forgive and forget the wrong done to her by the bad guy of the title. It features a body count of hundreds that may or may not include David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, and Samuel L. Jackson.

The past also comes back to haunt Ashley Judd's police detective in Philip Kaufman's Twisted (February 27). It seems that many of the homicide victims she's investigating are her former boyfriends, and the leading suspect is her father -- a serial killer. Talk about bringing baggage into a relationship. Another tough date might be the character played by Meg Ryan in Charles Dutton's Against the Ropes (February 6). Based on the life of Jackie Kallen, it's about a homemaker who becomes the first woman to manage professional boxers. Omar Epps plays her top fighter.

March

By this time in the campaign there are no doubt things that every candidate would like us to forget. Too bad none of them can take advantage of the process employed by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, who have their negative memories of each other removed in Mike Gondry & Chris Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (March 19). Maybe Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez's new collaboration with Kevin Smith will help ease the memory of Gigli. In Jersey Girl (March 19), Affleck plays a workaholic music promoter who falls for a book editor played by Lopez. Let's just hope Al Pacino doesn't make a cameo appearance.