“Reminiscence” is an often captivating film. It has elements of science fiction, social criticism, film noir, and a love story. Although it is marred by an overlong second act, the story resolves in a very satisfying way.
Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) works with his assistant Watts (Thandiwe Newton) in a future Miami. Both are veterans of the Border Wars, which were followed by rising seas. The division between haves and have-nots has grown wider as a result of these developments.
Their occupation involves letting customers relive their memories in a water tank. After being injected and connected to electrodes around the skull, the customers are verbally guided by Nick’s soothing voice to the past moments which they wish to remember. Their thoughts are projected for Nick and Watts to see in 3-D images away from the machine. These events can be recorded and saved on disks.
The machine was invented for military interrogations which is where Nick learned to use it. Because their business is not lucrative, Nick and Watts occasionally take memory depositions for the District Attorney.
One day Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) enters their business after closing. She looks like a classic 40’s femme fatale. Nick is instantly smitten.
Stating that she has lost her keys, Mae enters the tank. In her memories, Nick hears Mae sing the old standard “Where or When,” which later we will learn is of significance to him. After her session, Mae leaves behind her earrings.
Remembering that she performed at the Coconut Club, Nick travels to the poorer section of Miami, the Sunken Coast, to return the jewelry. Once again, he watches her perform.
Soon they are involved in a romance. Nick clearly is not only in love, but in love with being in love.
One day we see them together but are abruptly jarred out of the moment when Watts disconnects Nick from the tank. It turns out that Mae abruptly disappeared months ago and Nick has been unable to find her.
When they are doing a memory deposition at the D.A.’s office, the perpetrator remembers his time in New Orleans. He is at the club of Saint Joe (Daniel Wu), and who else is there in his memories but Mae. But this is the Mae from years ago.
Disrupting the deposition, Nick guides the perp through more of his memories of Mae. He finds out that Mae is using baca, a highly addictive substance. One day she steals a batch and leaves New Orleans.
These revelations set Nick in motion. Soon he is off to New Orleans to find out more from Saint Joe. This meeting turns out to be a disaster, and Nick is only saved by the intervention of Watts, who followed him there.
Thus begins a series of obsessive quests by Nick to find out more information about Mae, who definitely is not who she appeared to be.
I loved the dystopian look of Miami. Because of climate change, it has become too hot to venture out in the day. So the city only comes alive at night. The look of trams and water transports of various kinds are well-done. The visual effects are excellent.
I also was dismayed by this depiction. Is the future that we have for ourselves? When I saw “Soylent Green” years ago, that type of dystopia seemed years in the future. But I do not have the same sense of temporal distance now between what is and what might be.
Then there is the growing division between haves and have-nots in our society. Is this inevitable as the movie depicts? In Nick’s world, the rich have bought up all the dry land for themselves. Riots have occurred because a rich man is thought to have burned a building with people inside. By the end of the film, the riots have intensified.
Social criticism aside, the movie also is clearly film noir. First, there is Nick Bannister’s name, perfect for a P.I. Mae is the classic 40’s vamp. The setting is bleak and involves a lot of low-life characters. Nick even visits a rich person’s home as in so many classic mysteries. He gets beaten up but pulls through. The use of song standards also exemplifies the genre. It turns out as well that the plot ultimately revolves around a murder and an attempted murder.
It is unfortunate that the screenwriters felt the need to make Nick’s obsession with finding Mae a major part of the picture. His addictive longing for her is frankly perplexing as well as uninteresting. This portion of the movie seemed like an excuse to throw in scenes with extended fights and gunplay. All the while I was wondering what does this have to do with finding Mae?
When the film does come together at the end, it is so brilliantly accomplished that it comes as a shock after all of the detritus. I was so impressed by the screenwriting here. As befits a dystopian picture, the conclusion is appropriate and bittersweet.
Thandiwe Newton is the standout actor in this production. Her Watts has been damaged by the war. She drinks chronically to cope with her feelings. There also seems to be unrequited love for Nick. She had a daughter from whom she is now estranged. Newton’s range of emotions is superbly crafted. She is both likeable and believable.
On the other hand, Jackman puts in an adequate performance. He admittedly does not have much to work with as his emotional range varies from extreme love to extreme obsession. Ferguson remains a cipher through most of the film. Her deliberate elusiveness and aloofness are part of her role in the script, so she also does not have much to work with.
As a whole, the movie is very gratifying in spite of its flaws. Its mystery is well plotted, although the script is not.
Three and a half out of five stars
Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator of the mind, navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession. As Bannister fights to find the truth about Mae’s disappearance, he uncovers a violent conspiracy, and must ultimately answer the question: how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love?
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton, with Cliff Curtis, Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira, Daniel Wu, Mojean Aria, Brett Cullen, Natalie Martinez, Angela Sarafyan and Nico Parker
Directed by: Lisa Joy
Written by: Lisa Joy
"Reminiscence" is a mostly captivating noir scifi
Summary
“Reminiscence” is an often captivating film. It has elements of science fiction, social criticism, film noir, and a love story. Although it is marred by an overlong second act, the story resolves in a very satisfying way.
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