Little Fish (2020) and Memory

In this doomed narrative, Chad Hartigan's Little Fish (2020) explores love and its resilience in the face of erasure. The movie portrays a world grappling with a disease called NIA, which causes memory loss slowly and unnoticeably, and serves as a metaphor for real-world struggles like Alzheimer's or even the isolating effects of the pandemic. (Ironically the movie was shot just before the lockdown.) The love story between Emma and Jude is haunting, and we, as the audience, face the question: Is love merely a collection of memories or something deeper, rooted in the soul?

The disease explored in the movie does not warn its victims. Everyday activities are disrupted as individuals lose their grip on essential routines. Sometimes a driver forgets how to drive and stops the bus in the middle of nowhere. People forget their pets' names or that they had a pet in the first place. Emma and Jude's determination to hold onto each other in this isolating world corrupted by this overwhelming disease creates a powerful narrative against the inevitable fact of humanity: forgetting. What remains when our past fades away?

I was so sad the day I met you. I can't remember why.

Memories shape personal identity. We, humans, become who we are because of the road that we have taken, which brings us to our present. For the character Jude, the fading of his memories and experiences also means losing his selfhood, who he is. The loss of memory brings a loss of emotional connection with itself, as Jude struggles to remember Emma as his wife, but he also struggles to understand the meaning of their relationship, why he loves her, and who he is without those connections. Love is built on a collection of moments—joys, struggles, and the mundane routines of life. The erasure of this collection challenges their bond, challenges life—whether love can survive the loss of shared moments. The human vulnerability is perfectly captured by Emma's determination to hold onto Jude, and it shows the humans' desire for connection. The film doesn't shy away from the pain of this process by showing the pain Emma and Jude go through but also honors the courage it takes to persist.

By presenting Emma and Jude’s struggle in such raw, intimate detail, Little Fish celebrates the human capacity to fight for love and identity, even when the odds seem insurmountable.