Director: Lisa Joy
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Duration: 116 minutes
Reminiscence (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
For some reason, when watching the early trailers of Reminiscence, it immediately reminded us of a Sci-Fi version of The Sinking City, albeit without mutants. The movie showed us a world where cities were permanently flooded, the people only came out at night, and that many lived on nostalgia-powered fumes to get through their days. This futuristic version of our world allows people to actively relive their memories, and that’s basically what the main character will have to do to track someone down. We were intrigued by the concept and were also happy to see Hugh Jackman in a big role such as this again. Reminiscence is certainly worth remembering, but it’s also somewhat of a one-trick pony.
For Reminiscence we get taken to an unspecified point in the future. The world is a fairly grim place to live in due to climate change, as entire cities are flooded and it’s too hot to go out during the day. Humans have adapted to living their lives during the nighttime, and many wish the world was as it used to be. The latter is in a way possible, as people can relive their memories via a special think-tank machine and a certain drug to relax. These memories can even be saved, making sure they can even be rewatched at home, which is of course a lot less immersive than actually reliving them. Nick (Hugh Jackman) owns a company that allows people to relive their nostalgia-induced desires, and he does so with the help of his loyal friend Emily (Thandiwe Newton). They both are clearly not interested in earning much of a profit, as they seem to give away their services for free to veterans and those dealing with big losses. When all of a sudden a mysterious woman by the name of Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) walks in, Nick is immediately enamored by her presence. This soon after turns into a fairly lengthy romance, giving Nick a certain purpose in his life. When all of a sudden she leaves without a single word, Nick is obsessed to find her again. He soon finds himself nearly trapped in his own memories, trying to find tiny details that may give him clues of her whereabouts or why she left.
This movie is somewhat of a slow burn. Reminiscence progresses at a fairly slow pace, giving you all the details you need to understand what has become of the world, and how society now works. The rich are even richer and the riffraff is left to their own devices; if they pay the rich landlords. After the setting has been properly painted, the viewer follows Nick along on his obsession to find Mae, who has vanished into thin air, leaving him with many questions but no answers. The movie steadily progresses, but it takes its time to keep building the world, and this is actually quite enjoyable. Even though the movie could have been cut slightly shorter, there was never truly a dull moment to be found. We do have to mention that some story choices were very predictable, and when certain scenes started we could easily guess the outcome of said event/scene.
As a whole, the acting performances are top-notch in this film. We mainly get to follow around Hugh Jackman as the restless Nick Bannister, on his search to find Mae again. He is supported by Thandiwe Newton, who plays Emily Sanders. She also plays her role with a lot of grace and realism. We were very surprised by the onscreen chemistry between these two as ‘partners’ and we do hope these two phenomenal cast members will work on future projects together as well. Mae is being portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson, who does a good job at playing the mysterious love interest for Nick. She adds weight to a very typical film noir beauty, while also having a certain Jessica Rabbit aura emanating from her at all times. Other supporting cast members also do a formidable job at bringing this soaked and drenched world to life.
The Blu-ray version of Reminiscence comes with a fair few special features, but these all revolve around the creative process that went on behind the scenes. Only one other feature could be found on the disc, namely a music video. That being said, the extras show us more of how the movie came to life, by hearing the commentaries from the cast, or even by seeing how the world was built thanks to clever set design. Overall, it shows that this slow-burn movie was crafted with a lot of love and attention to detail.
Conclusion
Reminiscence is one of those movies that is great to put on during a cold and/or rainy evening, while you sit back, relax, but are still awake enough to speculate on what is going on. The movie holds a few surprises here and there, but it does also present you with a very predictable story progression at certain points of the film. This sunken-city film noir is a pleasant watch, and it shows the world that Hugh Jackman still has more in store for his fans. While this one isn’t an immediate hit in our books, the concept, and the execution, make this one worth a watch.
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