He Ain't Freaky, He's My Brother

Every Friday morning at 8:25 a.m., listeners of La Crosse, WI radio station WKTY-AM are invited to try and stump newsman Brad Williams, a.k.a. "The Human Google." As one of the very few people in the United States with hyperthymesia, or superior autobiographical memory, Williams can instantly recall the minutiae of each and every day of his life.


These weekly stump sessions are just the latest link in a daisy chain of media notoriety that began in January, 2008 with an interview on Good Morning America. This journey also forms the crux of Unforgettable, a documentary made by Williams' younger brother Eric that is screening in La Crosse June 24th and 25th.

This is not the first time Eric has concocted a newsman tale for the big screen. His debut feature credit was co-authoring the story for the 1997 Warner Bros. drama Mad City, in which a reporter (Dustin Hoffman) suddenly finds himself in the middle of a museum hostage taking engineered by a disgruntled ex-employee (John Travolta).

This week's screenings are the latest local pit stops for Unforgettable, which premiered in April at the 2010 Wisconsin Film Festival and screened in May in the Williams hometown of Prairie du Chien. A MENSA gathering showing is set for July 4th in Dearborn, MI, followed by the first pair of what will undoubtedly be a whole bunch of out-of-state film festival engagements.

Fellow documentary maker Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound, Lucky) has kind words of encouragement for the film. "Eric Williams manages a terrific thing," he raves. "Making his astonishing brother, Brad, seem at once approachable and extraordinary. This is a portrait of a man with a computer motherboard for a brain trying to find his place in a world unsure what to make of his strange and inexplicable ability."

[Unforgettable]