"We would never ignore the fact that we are also engaged with a very popular medium," he said.

Nor should they, says Andrew G. Sarris, a noted cinema critic and Columbia University film history and theory professor.

There's a point to placing the "Bourne" pictures and other popular, well-executed mainstream movies alongside film festival favorites, he said: It "proves that, occasionally, the system still works."

Friday's panel at MoMA is part of World Science Festival, a five-day gathering of researchers, artists and writers meeting throughout the city. Besides Liman, it will feature University of Wisconsin-Madison psychiatrist Dr. Giulio Tononi.

That discussion is likely to focus in part on the nature of Bourne's deep amnesia.

While Liman said he focused on "character truth," not scientific veracity, Tononi said the condition depicted is real, if very rare.

Like the multilingual Bourne, who easily fends off assassins with his extraordinary physical skills, some patients do retain abilities they can't remember acquiring, the scientist said.

Tononi also said Bourne's anguish over not remembering his past rings true. On or off the screen, he said, "we have this incredible, compelling need to create a narrative about who we are."