The Bourne Trilogy at MoMA

To celebrate the recent acquisition of the Bourne Trilogy by the Film Department, this weekend MoMA screened The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. In addition, a “Brain and Bourne” panel on Friday night featured director Doug Liman, producer/professor James Schamus, and psychiatrist/neuroscientist Giulio Tononi.

We’re unabashedly enthusiastic about the Bourne movies. The cuts! The woman in power who does the right thing without mothering anyone! The super-smart technology! The car chases and sound editing and cosmopolitan flavor! And the panel only heightened our feelings.

As it turns out, the psychogenic amnesia plaguing Jason Bourne is rare but entirely possible. This tidbit from Tononi shocked Liman, who noted that he “sort of made it up” as he directed the first movie and tonight’s “the first time the movie’s been taken seriously . . . . [A]mnesia was a way for me to do an intelligent spy story.” That got a laugh, as did most of the director’s comments. Liman wore a hangdog expression and seemed completely freaked out to be on stage with an actual scientist for the hour-long event. The night really belonged to Tononi, who came armed with slide after slide of how our brain creates a continuous narrative of our life, shaping memories and forgetting experiences in order to develop a cohesive, acceptable whole. He concluded by reminding the audience to be mindful of the brain, since everything leaves an impression, and those impressions are us.


Photo: thanks