Little Fish

In a dystopian future, society grapples with a pandemic of catastrophic proportions. The Memory Thief virus, also known as "Forgetting," is a mysterious and airborne disease that robs its victims of their memories. The virus has an insidious way of targeting specific memories, and in many cases, it completely erases entire timelines of people's lives. Sandy (played by Olivia Cooke), a young woman in her early 20s, finds herself in a tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend Buddy (played by Jack O'Connell), a former punk rock star turned bartender. The couple's love story began many years ago, and as the virus spreads, their memories of each other start to disappear. With every passing day, they struggle to recall the moments they shared, and their recollections of their romance slowly fade into oblivion. As the disease begins to claim more and more victims, the couple finds themselves fighting to hold on to their relationship and their memories. Buddy becomes increasingly paranoid and detached, and his efforts to hold on to their shared past begin to strain the relationship. Sandy, on the other hand, is desperate to cling to the memories of their time together, which she believes are her only connection to Buddy and their love. The narrative is set against the backdrop of a decaying cityscape, where the once-familiar streets are now empty and desolate. Citizens scurry about, desperately trying to find ways to prevent or mitigate the effects of the memory-stealing virus. Buddy's own memories of his childhood and family begin to unravel, causing him to lash out at Sandy and question her very identity. As Buddy's grip on reality begins to slip, Sandy finds herself caught between her love for him and her growing desperation to preserve their memories. The couple's arguments turn into shouting matches, and their fragile relationship hangs by a thread. Sandy becomes convinced that Buddy's memories of their past are essential to their love, and that losing them will forever sever their bond. Their desperate attempts to hold on to their memories lead them to various underground "memory traders" who promise to extract and preserve recollections, even as the virus continues to ravage the city. These black-market traders have developed ways to record and store memories, offering desperate couples a glimmer of hope in a world where forgetting is rapidly becoming the norm. In a poignant moment of desperation, Sandy and Buddy decide to have their memories recorded as a precaution, just in case the virus claims everything. The memory keeper, a mysterious and enigmatic figure, agrees to capture and preserve their experiences, but at an exorbitant price that leaves the couple feeling hopeless. As the disease tightens its grip on the city and the couple's memories continue to fade, Sarah (played by Kate Berlant), a young woman who claims to have lost her entire life due to the virus, becomes a source of inspiration for Sandy. Sarah, who has no recollection of her past, begins to form new connections and relationships with the people around her, a testament to the human capacity for resilience and adaptation. In the climactic moments of the film, as Sandy and Buddy face the very real possibility of losing each other forever, they are forced to confront the fragility of love and memory. In their desperation to preserve their shared past, they find themselves caught in a cycle of anger, pain, and ultimately, a profound sense of loss. As the film hurtles toward its conclusion, it becomes clear that the couple's memories, while essential to their love, are also fragile and ephemeral. Like the rest of the city, Sandy and Buddy are forced to adapt to a new reality, where memories are no longer fixed and their past, no matter how cherished, is constantly slipping away. Ultimately, the film raises profound questions about the nature of love and memory in a world where the past is rapidly becoming a foreign concept. Can love endure in the face of forgetting? Or is memory, that fragile, ephemeral thread, the very fabric that holds our existence together?