A therapist uses virtual reality to treat a young man's issue with an ex-girlfriend. | Sometime Else

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Sometime Else is used with permission from James Cleave. Learn more at https://omele.to/3Ka2h9b.

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A therapist is meeting with her regular patient Josh, an awkward young man who is working through a traumatic breakup with his ex-girlfriend Gemma. Using state-of-the-art VR technology, the therapist helps Josh navigate his feelings by sifting through his memories.

But as Josh takes the therapist through the pivotal moments and events of the relationship, from his initial crush to their devastating breakup, what seems like a troubled romance reveals something deeper and darker at work.

Directed and written by James Cleave, this gripping sci-fi drama explores the intersection of technology, memory and psychology, as a young man slowly strips away layers of denial and emotion with the aid of a virtual reality technology and a wily, persistent therapist. Situated believably in a version of today’s everyday reality with slightly more advanced tech, the film pulls viewers in with riveting performances and consistently compelling storytelling, leaving us with plenty of thought-provoking questions at its conclusion.

In many ways, the storytelling is structured around a classic two-hander set-up, anchored by the interaction between Josh and his therapist. But it takes advantage of VR’s expansive immersion to open up the story as a romantic drama of a young, tumultuous teenage romance. We see Josh as a classic lovelorn boy, slightly awkward and head over heels for his crush. To his delight and surprise, he begins dating Gemma, but the romance goes sour, much to his distress.

Through clever use of split screen, we see both Josh’s memories and his recounting of them to his therapist, and there’s enough of a gap for viewers to realize that he’s often in denial of events and his feelings around them. The use of VR places Josh viscerally in his memories, which seems to unlock deeper, rawer levels of emotion within him. Two strands of the story begin emerging: that of how exactly Josh’s relationship breaks down, and the cat-and-mouse game between him and his therapist, as she attempts to get him to face reality.

As Josh, actor Sean Joseph Young carries the short with a richly layered performance. He conveys Josh’s aching hope, desire and attachment to his girlfriend, but as he relives his memories, darker shades of his thoughts emerge, as the therapist — played by actor Nia Roberts with disarming calm — finally helps him face the truth of what happened. That truth, of course, is much more disturbing than previously thought.

Being a clever, absorbing and superbly crafted thriller at the end, “Sometime Else” has other secrets to uncover, and other ideas to ponder, especially about the ethical use of technology, reliability of memory and how we so easily reshape stories to suit ourselves. But in the imagining of a future where dreams and memories can be recorded, we may not be able to escape the truth for long, for better or for worse.

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A therapist uses virtual reality to treat a young man’s issue with an ex-girlfriend. | Sometime Else
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48 thoughts on “A therapist uses virtual reality to treat a young man's issue with an ex-girlfriend. | Sometime Else”

  2. I didn't notice the thumb nail, yet I was getting the feeling that Josh would be revealed wearing a prison uniform, especially when his temper surfaced.
    Rejection from a young age, long before his father left, had a lasting detrimental effect…sadly there are many out there like Josh, obsessive, vulnerable and unable to deal with the past, manipulation of the truth, fantasising and lying is inevitable. My friends ex left his son when he was just 4 years old. Because I was helping my friend a lot, my little buddy asked his mum if I was their 'new family' ?
    When she told me I was gutted for my little friend, a sweet child who I worry for daily…..luckily his mum is his rock, but can forget her priorities at times with bad choices.

    Reply

  14. What I like about this is how the memory program can't be fully reliable & also be somehow manipulative like the red roses changing to black (black roses don't exist) for a moment because of a glitch.
    Maybe he is lying by suppressing his memory of the crime or maybe not. Or even the last memory she witnessed was real or maybe it wasn't 100% accurate because of "a glitch".
    Awesome Film BTW. 🤓👍

    Reply

  27. Ok. Ok.

    Josh attempts to obscure what really happened. But with each retelling of the same event the Memoratic is able to register more and more authentic elements till the true event is pieced together.

    However, judges do not accept Memoratic recordings as evidence in court proceedings. The detectives want a court admissible confession.

    Furthermore, Bradley is still a missing person. So Josh is going to be subjected to more than the usual 50 minute session with a therapist as he is genteely grilled to find out what he knows about Bradley's whereabouts.

    Josh is strapped to his chair with the Memoratic screwed on tight. The film ends for us, but it seems Josh won't be going anywhere soon. Except on memory holidays.

    This is one creepy video. The way Josh talks past the people in his memory is unnerving.

    Reply

  34. "I can see this technology being used for terrible purposes. " This is too far advanced for this century, if any century.
    Good video, would like to know what memory she has next for him. 👍

    Reply

  35. The predictive programming tool
    for the future of :
    Criminal Murder Investigations.
    The Russians invented it.

    I am a Detective Second Grade
    of Master of the Obvious

    I believe you'll be able to buy this through Walmart –
    probably by the year 2035

    Wouldn't you like to know…

    Reply

  39. Divorce is never the way out, My wife and I have been having issues before I sort out help from a spiritual adviser,i wasnt going to let my marriage of 18years crash

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  44. The more you visit a memory the more you change it. Something to do with the way that your brain takes it out and then put it back. Your state when you remember the memory affects the memory. So, the more times you remember something the more inaccurate it will become. There are lots of studies on this.

    Reply

  45. Elon Musk needs to hold off developing chips implanted into people's brains until humanity gets to a point where this can be avoided… meaning for the next 1000 years or more.

    Reply

  46. Interesting premise but quite unimpressive. It seems like most people do not write therapists all that well. She's cold and there's no rapport or trust built over a minimum of 10 sessions at least. Would you open up to someone that was this openly hostile toward you?

    Reply

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