We’re just aimless souls staring into our cell phones. In Alexander Campbell and Mark Solter’s short film, Everyone Writes Memoir, our addiction to devices was a slow journey down a dark path.
Everyone Writes Memoir takes us right to the crossroads of Mia’s (Gloria Blake) and Daniel’s (Anthony Crum) relationship. Daniel feels lost in life, as if he’s living outside of himself. But he has this underlying belief that technology will solve many of the personal problems we humans face.
Mia, on the other hand, has to live with Daniel. After a long trip, she comes to their seaside home to find that Daniel has somewhat given up. Their home is unkempt, with dirty dishes lying around, and he’s failed to pay the power bill with the money she gave him days ago. It also doesn’t help that she stumbled across Daniel’s personal journal.
As much as Everyone Writes Memoir is about how our technology addictions subtly isolate us from the world and even those we live with. Cambell and Solter’s short takes us right into the heart of a relationship that is falling apart. It’s this phenomenon that happens in every relationship. Every relationship begins with excitement and romance. Then moving in together to start something new together.

“…has this underlying belief that technology will solve many of the personal problems we humans face.”
As time rolls on, if a relationship is not tended to, it grows stale, and in the case of Daniel, he cowers into his device and withdraws from the world and his love. At one point, Mia confesses she grabbed Daniel’s phone and went through his DMs, almost hoping for the worst.
Everyone Writes Memoir is a gorgeous film. Shot in New Zealand, I’d kill to live along the sea coast in the home of our protagonists. The irony is not lost on being surrounded by nature while still being a slave to the digital.Blake and Crum are almost too good as the couple destined for failure. Everyone Write Memoir can hit a bit close to home for those of us who’ve struggled in any kind of long-term relationship.
Everyone Writes Memoir builds upon the theme that we are social beings, and there are forces at play slowly tempting us into isolation…even from the one sitting next to us at the dinner table.
For screening information, visit the Everyone Writes Memoir official website.