Arrested Memory

FILM SPONSOR: Joe F. Tarver, P.C.

Winner! Runner up for People’s Choice Award, Toronto

OTHER FESTIVALS: Venice, Toronto

A gorgeous thriller/absurdist comedy, Arrested Memory focuses on a Lee, a bad-ass seasoned detective recently diagnosed with PTSD-induced dementia.  Lee is brought in to lead the investigation into the kidnapping of a five-year old boy (the film is an homage to Kurasawa’s High and Low).  Lee is doggedly pursued by both cops and crooks after he unwittingly wanders off with a multimillion-dollar ransom in a crime caper from cult auteur SABU. Arrested Memory uses a warm color palette and a soundtrack that heightens the tension, and is complete with mistaken/disordered identities, overwhelming guilt, dance numbers, and the irreverent interventions of both incompetent police and hapless Yakuza.

Directed by Sabu, 2026, Taiwan, in Mandarin with English subtitles, 87 minutes, NR