Arrested Memory Review: Memory-Loss Cop Thriller Has Absurdist Humor But Little Focus [TIFF]

Arrested Memory is a chaotic blend of retro-crime thriller and absurd comedy that occasionally shines, but gets lost in its disjointed narrative.

Published Sep 12, 2026, 11:53 AM EDT

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There is something wonderfully anachronistic about Arrested Memory. From its hard-edged crime story to its bursts of cartoonish violence, SABU’s latest feels as though it has wandered in from an era when violent cop movies and pulpy action thrillers were a staple of international cinema. This time around, that throwback sensibility collides with a deliberately ridiculous sense of humor, and a protagonist whose memory is slipping away from him. The result is an occasionally inspired, frequently chaotic genre oddity that finds surprising comedy in the relationship between violence, guilt, and a man who can barely remember what he is doing.

Making its North American premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Arrested Memory follows Captain Lee (Ethan Juan), a skilled police officer who suddenly begins losing his memory. His condition could hardly arrive at a worse time: Lee is assigned to recover the kidnapped son of a Japanese oligarch (Shin’ichi Tsutsumi) from an unknown group of criminals. As his memory continues to deteriorate, Lee becomes entangled with police and gangsters.

Arrested Memory Feels Like A Cop Movie From Another Era (& An Absurdist Comedy From Today)

Part of the film's appeal comes from how strongly it evokes older crime and action movies. Arrested Memory has the rough-edged aesthetic of a picture made several decades ago, recalling a period when violent police movies could be considerably more commonplace than they are today.

Rather than simply reproducing that style, though, SABU places that old-fashioned sensibility alongside contemporary filmmaking and humor. There is a sense throughout that old and new are intentionally existing side by side. The visual presentation, hard-boiled premise, and bursts of violence suggest one era of genre movies, while the increasingly absurd situations and comedic timing belong to something much more modern and self-aware.

It is an interesting combination, even when SABU does not always manage to make the two halves coalesce. Memory loss, guilt, and violent action do not seem like natural companions to the kind of absurdist humor that SABU's film has to offer, yet there are moments when it gets the balance spot on, using Lee's confusion to make otherwise threatening situations funny without completely stripping them of their stakes or tension.

In Arrested Memory, The Audience's Experience Mirrors The Protagonist's Struggle

Arrested Memory's premise positions its protagonist in the middle of an interesting dilemma, but the creative decision to have Captain Lee's increasing disorientation reflect what it's like to watch the movie is a risk that definitely does not pay off.

SABU's film repeatedly stops and starts, introduces new characters, sends them away, and then moves Lee into another situation before the previous one has had much time to settle. At times, this renders it a somewhat immersive viewing experience, replicating Lee's splintered mental state for anyone who watches. But, most of the time, this disorientation feels less deliberate and more like the product of a loose handling of the material.

A Disorienting Odyssey Surprisingly Finds Its Way Home

For all of its structural problems, SABU deserves credit for bringing the various pieces of the story together by the end. Given how frequently Arrested Memory appears to be heading in a completely different direction, the film's ability to eventually connect its disparate threads is genuinely surprising.

The resolution provides a degree of satisfaction that the preceding hour or so does not always earn. Lee's journey toward understanding who he is and what he has done ultimately gives the story a clearer emotional purpose, even if that purpose arrives too late to completely repair the film's earlier problems.

Arrested Memory is therefore an intriguing experiment that never quite finds the balance between its competing identities. Its retro crime-movie aesthetic is distinctive; its central premise has potential; and its absurd humor occasionally hits the mark. But the stop-and-start narrative, underwhelming action, revolving door of side characters, and inconsistent tone prevent SABU's latest from becoming the clever genre reinvention it initially appears to be.

Arrested Memory screened at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.