Review: Reminiscence

Hugh Jackman’s new Sci-Fi/Film Noir flick ‘Reminiscence’ channels two parts ‘Double Indemnity‘, one part ‘Casablanca‘, and 1/2 parts each ‘Blade Runner‘ and ‘Inception‘.

If you found the trailers to Reminiscence more confusing than helpful, just WAIT until you see the WHOLE film!  And, yes, there will be minor spoilers.  Be forewarned!

The Plot – Reminiscence

The Private Eye

Nick Bannister, played by Hugh Jackman, helps people remember.  Even if you misplace a part of your past, Nick and his machine guide you through ‘The Reminiscence’ process, to get back what was once gone.

However, not all memories are recoverable.  ‘Forgotten’ memories can be recovered; ‘Lost’ memories that weren’t worthy of being remembered in the first place; can NOT.

There are as many technical rules for memory retrieval in the Reminiscence process, as there are for memory implantation in ‘Inception’.  Don’t get too caught up on this, as the primary focus is telling a classic Film Noir/Femme Fatale story in the near future of a flooded out Miami.

Nick functions part as hypnotist, part as a Private Investigator ‘of the mind’.  Thandiwe Newton plays the world weary ‘Watts’; Nick’s assistant in the office.  She’s the straight shooter; she has his back, and she functions like the P.I.’s secretary from classic Noir.

The Dame

Our Femme Fatale, known only as ‘Mae’, strolls into Nick’s life played by Rebecca Ferguson.  Beautiful, wearing a fancy gown even in Nick’s run down office, and of course, backlit to show off every curve; Mae claims to have ‘lost her keys’. Indeed.

The machine resembles a glass coffin partially filled with water.  Mae prepares by nonchalantly dropping her dress in front of Nick, and climbing into the machine.  Watts rolls her eyes, and loads the program.

Nick guides her through her memories, slowly getting sucked into Mae’s drama.  We see her memories projected into a life-size, 3D hologram, while Nick and Watts to watch.

Instantaneously, we see Mae getting dressed, going to work, and singing sultry jazz in a nightclub.  Think Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

The Seduction

Nick finds Mae’s keys quickly, but just keeps watching to see her sing.  If you’ve seen Double Indemnity or any other classic Noir, you get the idea.

From here, the scope slowly broadens.  We meet the District Attorney, the Land Baron, the mistress, the organized crime element.  We follow Nick as he unfolds the mystery of the murder; and the mystery of Mae.

The Good – Reminiscence

The Noir

It’s clear Westworld alum and first time Director Lisa Joy loves Film Noir.  ‘Reminiscence’ channels all those classic tropes in this Neo Noir film through the prism of Science Fiction in the near future.  But, the look, feel, and story remains distinctly Noir.

The entire first act expertly sets the table for our story.  The strange post-Global-Warming-ocean-rising world gets little attention outside what we need to know for the story. 

Joy’s strong visual style, story building, and deliberate pacing establish a quiet world of beauty and unease.  You feel pulled between the past and the future, the rich and the poor, and the order and the chaos.

If only the mastery of genre shown in the first act were sustained throughout the film; Joy’s Freshman film would jump off the screen.

Production Design

Plenty of Lisa Joy’s Westworld compatriots join her in front of and behind the camera, giving this film a somewhat familiar feel for viewers of the series.  Cinematographer Paul Cameron, Editor Mark Yoshikawa, and Production Designer Howard Cummings build a plausible and visually stunning world for the story to unfold in.

The look and feel of the well-worn Miami of the future fits perfectly into the Noir style.  Plus, the purposeful pacing of the scenes and moody lighting; channel the increasing isolation and desperation Nick feels as the story progresses.

The Bad – The Second Act

Normally, I don’t want to go too deep into the story elements of the film if it’s a mystery, procedural, etc.; and/or anything that wasn’t hinted at in trailers.  However, the Second Act of Reminiscence is THAT bad that I can’t ignore talking about it.

At the end of the GREAT First Act, Nick boards a train and goes on a journey.  THIS is where the film starts to go off the rails!  (See what I did there?  Lol…)

The Talking

The Second Act starts with a confrontation.  Nick goes to The Drug Dealer, wants to make a buy.  The dialogue that follows FEELS like some poor screenwriter was forced to rewrite and reshoot two scenes into one, just to cut 5-10 minutes off the film’s total run time (at 116 minutes, Reminiscence is just under two hours).  

The pacing is rushed, the Drug Dealer awkwardly speaks dialogue from English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.  Instead of feeling multicultural, the scene feels like actor Daniel Wu had no time to prepare.  It feels like an awkward audition scene, NOT the autonomous moment of a film noir story.

On top of that, Hugh Jackman’s hair and clothing, plus his whole demeanor, feel ‘OFF’.  They FEEL as if the scene was being reshot six months later, and Jackman had a hard time recapturing the tone of the film and his character.  Nick is rushed, but doesn’t feel urgent.  Nick is confrontational, but doesn’t feel like he’s fighting for anything.

The Shootout – Reminiscence

A huge, poorly acted/directed/shot/edited fight scene breaks out.  Then, even MORE characters enter the fray.

The shooting starts in semi-slow-motion, but without a pace that feels purposeful.  Then, the shooting CONTINUES in slow motion, and just…  keeps…  going…

The gunshots sound like REAL production audio was used, instead of Foley Artists dubbing in sound effects, later.  This stands in direct contrast to the rest of the sound effects used in the scene, not to mention the audio levels of said sound effects and background music. 

Bottom line: a huge mess, with no real impact; and nothing accomplished for the story.

The Bad – Rebecca Ferguson’s Singing

While Rebecca Ferguson’s acting ability is without question, having her feature film singing debut as a sultry Femme Fatale was a mistake.  Mae’s character is supposed to be a professional singer, with her vocal mastery at the center of her ability to seduce Nick.

Rebecca Ferguson puts forth real effort into her singing; and while she doesn’t embarrass herself, clearly she lacks the many years of professional singing experience that Mae would have.  Since Director Lisa Joy establishes Nick’s infatuation with Mae is at least partially based off of her siren’s song, keeping Rebecca Ferguson’s singing voice in the final film is a mistake.

For a qualitative reference of Rebecca Ferguson’s singing chops, think Kirsten Dunst‘s lounge singing in Spider-Man 3.

The Review – Reminiscence

While the First Act of Reminiscence brims with a fresh take on all the best Film Noir tropes in a visually stunning world; the Second Act ruins it.  The Third Act gives a valiant, if futile, effort to redeem the film.  But, ultimately it falls short, even with a satisfying ending on two fronts.

While the Westworld Production team regularly Wins Emmy Awards for their Special Effects, the quality of the final product in Reminiscence suffers in the transition from 50 inch T.V. screen to 50 foot tall movie theater screen.  This is not from lack of talent or effort, but one of money, for the relatively low budget $68 MILLION feature film.

To be fair, I viewed Reminiscence at home instead of the big screen; but even the opening shot of the film looks highly pixelated and like a PS3 cutscene on my T.V.

The quality of the Visual Effects can be easily overlooked if the filmmaking knocks it out of the park, but the GIANT piece of COMPOST that is the Second Act of the film renders the whole thing MOOT.

GREAT concept.  Good effort.  Studio interference.  Budget limitations.  MORE singing lessons.  Skip it.

Additional Information

Cast and Crew Information

Dragon Movie Guy Author Page