A rival Cutter puts it more clearly: "If you can't bear to look at it, he will." Welcome to Judgment City: A Look Back at Defending Your Life, The West Wing Returns for an HBO Max Special, Touring Masterworks: Adam Nayman Discusses His New Book on Paul Thomas Anderson. We don't even know if he enjoys his voyeurism. His latest assignment is one that puts him in danger. Why are the implants called ZOE? The company is facing groups that oppose to the "Rememory" and the ex-cutter Fletcher (Jim Caviezel) is leading these opponents. She shoots Bannister's chip. ... ‘Us’ Ending Explained: The Most Terrifying Cut of All Since the ZOE implant records someone's life, this sounds like the most logical answer to why it was named ZOE. Their slogan: "Remember for yourself!" Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil But Robin Williams stands apart from the problems of "The Final Cut," just as he stands apart from the other characters. After a long chase, he lets Alan go, but then his friend shoots Alan in the chest. In searching for a record of his friend's Zoe chip, he finds none, as only 20% of all people have the implants. On a side note: The first device to display moving images was called the "Zoetrope", the similar name could have had further influence as to why this implant was named ZOE. Of course a Cutter sees everything. However, one should note the word "Zoe" is actually a greek word for "life." When he returns home a lady he's been sleeping with finds out he used memories of her ex-boyfriend to spy on her. Meantime, the Zoe chip of his subject is destroyed during a confrontation in his office. Related: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's Ending Explained (& What Happens Next) As the film unwinds, dispelling a voluptuously unsettling series of events onto the audience, the levels of paranoia, intensity, and fright all rapidly increase until finally bursting in the Uncut Gems ending. Meanwhile, Alan finds that he has also an implanted microchip, which is against the rules of a cutter. This process is called "Rememory" and Alan H. Hakman (Robin Williams), a man traumatized by an incident in his childhood, is the best cutter of the Eye Tech Corporation. Flash to the present, and chips called "Zoe" are inserted into the brain at birth and record a person's entire life; when the person dies, the video is edited and shown at the funeral. Consider his work in "The Secret Agent" (1996), as a man who prowls Edwardian London with explosives strapped to his body; "One Hour Photo" (2002), where he plays a loner who lives vicariously through the photographs he develops, and "Insomnia" (2002), where he plays a killer who forgives himself because, well, these things happen. Question: Why are the implants called ZOE? He lives alone, spending most of his time in a room with his Cutting machines. Design and text © 1996 - 2020 Jon Sandys. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. "I took this job out of respect for the living." He is especially like a taxidermist, removing the rotting parts hidden inside his subjects while preserving the external covering in its ideal form. After your death, a Cutter can edit highlights of your memories into a two-hour video called a Rememory, for your friends and family to watch. Plot Keywords Alan questions Bannister's daughter and learns the man is named Louis Hunt, the name of the boy he believes he killed. When Alan is assigned to prepare the final cut of the memories of the Eye Tech lawyer Charles Bannister, his Zoe chip is disputed by Fletcher. Rated PG-13 First-time filmmaker Omar Naim wrote and directed the sci-fi drama The Final Cut. Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback. All rights reserved. He knows every secret, witnesses every sin, observes every lie. He goes to a parlor where a tattoo is made on you to disable the chip. Alan: You wanna take a shot too? The movie provides no answer as to why the device was named "ZOE." Williams brings this oddball outsider to a kind of perfection in Omar Naim's "The Final Cut," a moody science fiction drama. Ending / spoiler for The Final Cut (2004), plus mistakes, quotes, trivia and more. At the very end, Fletcher is seen viewing Alan's life. Robin Williams' powerful portrayal of Alan Hakman, a troubled "cutter," propels this character driven story that forces us to question the power of our memories and the sanctity of our privacy. Williams plays a professional who specializes in editing the memories of unsavory people into uncritical memorials that are played at funerals. When Alan is assigned to prepare the final cut of the memories of the Eye Tech lawyer Charles Bannister, his Zoe chip is disputed by Fletcher. At the end, when Fletcher is viewing the scene through Alan's eyes, Isabel gives the entire speech while looking down at the floor. Alan receives a tattoo to disable the audio, but must wait a week for the video. He looks sad and weary much of the time, like the angels in "Wings of Desire," who also see and know all. And another says: "He's first on the list for Cutting scum-bags and lowlifes." Does it stand for something? Confronted by activists who want his subject's life opened to all, Alan attempts to flee because his memory chip recorded what he saw of the subject's life, but is shot and killed by the activist, who justifies his actions, hence Alan was not killed in vain. In the last shot of the movie, Alan Hackman looks at himself in a mirror through his own eyes. You haven't even made room for yourself. | Meanwhile, Alan finds that he has also an implanted microchip, which is against the rules of a cutter. While viewing his childhood, Alan learns he tried to warn Louis not to attempt to cross on a wooden plank and he fell. Everybody else has. Now Alan goes and has his cutter friends hook him up to allow him to view his OWN memories. Synopsis In Catholic school we learned that God was always watching us, but God forgave and didn't maintain digital files. As early as "Seize the Day" (1986), a little-seen adaptation of Saul Bellow's novel about a man who loses everything of importance, Williams was accepting roles in which he would be inward, withdrawn, obsessive, peculiar. Video editor ("cutter") Alan Hakman edits the recordings of people's lives according to the wishes of the subject's family, interviewing the person's family members to get an idea of what to look for in the recordings. Does it stand for something? Parents Guide. It is impossible to say how Alan feels. How strange that the same actor can play some of the most uninhibited of all characters, and some of the most morose. However, one should note the word "Zoe" is actually a greek word for "life." The movie is bookended with the story of a childhood tragedy that may have twisted Alan into the Cutter he is today. The chips are removed upon death so the images can be edited into something of a highlight reel for loved ones who want to remember the deceased. He wants his chip to view so that he can watch Bannister's life through Alan's eyes. There is a thriller plot of sorts, which doesn't add much to the movie, since Alan's peculiar relationship to his job is at the heart of everything. But a good Cutter, like a good mortician, puts the best possible face on things. There are also those who protest the implants. So, in some cases, Hakman was knowingly burying the bad and highlighting the good. Alan learns he has a chip inside himself, something he never learned because his parents didn't live to tell him. Citizens known as "cutters" (just a slang for a film editor) pare down one's life to a feature length presentation. The Final Cut is a 2004 science fiction thriller film written and directed by Omar Naim. Indeed, the movie never really … In a near undefined future, people may have a Zoe microchip implanted in their nervous system to permit their families to retrieve the best moments of their memories and watch on video after their deaths. In this futuristic tale, Alan Hakman (Robin Williams) witnesses the death of his childhood friend who had fallen off a plank of wood in the abandoned building in which they were playing. The Final Cut is the story of the latter days of a cutter, Alan W. Hakman (Robin Williams). It's been said that inside every comedian is a sad man refusing to weep. He is, they say behind his back, a Sin Eater. The tragedy is well handled, but its aftermath in his adult life seems unfinished and unsatisfying. When Alan Hakman talks to the young girl Isabel and she gives her speech about how great her dad is, she is looking directly at him. What he does find is a record of his own implant, of which he was unaware. She knows, or suspects, Zoe may have recorded images of their daughter being molested. Continuity mistake: When Alan Hakman talks to the young girl Isabel and she gives her speech about how great her dad is, she is looking directly at him. But when he looks away and runs off, the camera keeps watching the empty mirror in stead of watching what he sees. Williams is able to channel this furtive, secretive persona for roles that are far removed from Mork, Mrs. Doubtfire and Aladdin's Genie. Delila: There's no place for me with you. To know when people like your submissions, answer your questions, reply to you, etc., please. What does he think about the horrors he witnesses, the terrible things he edits from his Rememories?