One Line Review: Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson failed to save pretentious imitation of Christopher Nolan’s films
Youtube Trailer Reminiscence
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebeca Ferguson
Director: Lisa Joy
Release Date: 18 August 2021
Introduction
At one point, faced with an act of charity in “Reminiscence” and as a pretext for the continuity of his business, that of (re)living past memories, Hugh Jackman states that “Nostalgia will never go out of fashion”.
At that very moment, the movie industry must have laughed nervously. As we all know, nostalgia has been the basis of much of today’s productions by major Hollywood studios and the result of some box office hits. In other words, a memory revival, just like Jackman’s character craft.
Plot and its Analysis
We are in a post-war future where sea levels have risen and Miami has been flooded and the sweltering sun makes people live at night instead of during the day. Scientist Nick Bannister ( Hugh Jackman ), who also regularly does detective work for the police, leads a secluded life and has discovered a way to relive memories by placing people in a kind of cryo tank in the water with an electrode crown and a narcotic. syringe in the neck.
The memories are then projected as a hologram and stored on plastic plates ( Minority Report anyone?). His life takes a new turn when he and his assistant Watts ( Thandiwe Newton ) discover the mysterious Mae (Rebecca Ferguson ) where Nick gets an instant crush and spontaneously experiences a passionate affair, even though sex-with-the-customers is not a sustainable business model. When she appears in a criminal’s memory along with drug lord Saint Joe ( Daniel Wu ), Nick uses his technology to search for the truth behind her past after she disappeared from his life without saying a word.
Let me start with what was good: the production design by Howard Cummings as well as the cinematography by veteran Paul Cameron. These two gentlemen ensured that I did not leave the cinema. It’s just a shame that their great visuals were wasted by such a flawed script with a director who obviously doesn’t understand how to build characters and craft compelling scenes.
Now comes the bad part
In addition to its predictable plot, the film also brings together a convention of the most pathetic characters, especially the main character who doesn’t really warm you as a viewer – despite the fact that it is Wolverine. Nick is essentially a voyeur/stalker and half creep, who puts his own happiness before the well-being of his loyal co-worker, who has had to look for another job because Nick constantly used the cryo tank for his memory masturbation sessions.
The ending of the film is even more pathetic. Broadly speaking, in the first half of the film, a film noir handbook, and in the second half, Joy tries to amaze the viewer with “surprising twists” and confrontations. The film was also produced by Jonathan Nolan, but apparently, he also didn’t feel like adjusting his own wife’s script (yup, they’re married).
Conclusion
In short, Reminiscence could have been an interesting sci-fi noir, but a lazy script sank this boat with a director who was only interested in shooting beautiful images. The film has an insane concept about love, a bus with cardboard characters to serve or complicate the story, questionable messages, and a lifeless Hugh Jackman who will probably be liked by the stalkers and voyeurs of this world but just about any sensible person. The creature will leave cold. I suspect Warner Bros will long remember the painful moment when they gave $70 million to an inexperienced Westworld director.
