By Robert Scucci | Published
Hugh Jackman may have recently brought Wolverine out of retirement with last year’s Deadpool and Wolverinebut when he’s not wearing a yellow suit wrapped around an adamantium-infused skeleton, he’s not so bad in the thriller genre. 2021 Reminiscence is a great example of Jackman taking the lead outside of Marvel in this existential tech-noir film about an investigator who revisits his painful memories to uncover clues to the disappearance of the love of his life. Although Jackman’s exceptional performance is supported by the talent of Thandiwe Newton and Rebecca Ferguson, Reminiscence doesn’t quite stick the landing after its build, but the build and cinematography alone make this movie worth seeking out on Max if you want to see Jackman play a cynical detective racing against time.
The reminiscence machine
Reminiscence begins with Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) and Emily “Watts” Sanders (Thandiwe Newton) operating in a converted interrogation center that uses sensory deprivation as a means of allowing their clients to revisit precious memories from their past for a small fee . Offering a fair amount of meta-commentary on how nostalgia sells, Nick’s narrations function as a vehicle for exposition and personal reflections with just a hint of cynicism, as if he were a hardened private detective from a pulp magazine from the 1930s.
While Nick has recurring clients who want to relive their past repeatedly instead of living in the present, as well as contracts with the state to use his reminiscence machine to examine suspicious memories from various affairs, he does barely enough business to keep the lights on. Bored and simply going through the motions, Nick injects his subjects with a sleeping serum, places them in a tank of water, and guides their meditations with his voice while saving their memories on disks for his recordings.
Everything changes for Nick when he’s about to close up shop for the day, and Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) walks in, begging him to let her get treatment so she can find her missing keys. Through a shaky timeline, we learn that Nick and Mae become lovers before she suddenly disappears. Distraught and discouraged, Nick repeatedly puts himself through the reminiscence machine in order to find clues that will help him locate Mae.
Romance with a hint of crime drama
Even though Mae’s disappearance constitutes the main conflict in Reminiscencea new investigation opens involving a drug lord named Saint Joe (Daniel Wu), a corrupt cop named Cyrus Booth (Cliff Curtis), and a highly addictive substance known as baca. Nick’s main goal is to find Mae using the reminiscence machine, but as he digs deeper into the recesses of his own memories, he learns that Mae’s presence is ever-present throughout his investigation. Unsure if Mae is leaving clues for help or sending him on a wild goose chase, Nick slowly reveals himself as he tries to make sense of his own and his memories. his suspects.
We have a creation at home
Channel seriousness Creation energy, Reminiscence has all the elements of a thought-provoking tech thriller, but gets lost in the weeds by its third act. As Nick’s obsession with Mae continues to consume his being, the line between his memories and real life becomes blurred to the point of confusing the narrative. Still, it’s worth mentioning that the flashback sequences are stunning vignettes that tap into the nostalgia one feels when looking back fondly on better days, even if the good times themselves were perhaps just a lie we tell ourselves.
Reminiscence was an absolute box office bomb at the time of its release, but it’s a visually stunning film that attempts to ask serious questions about the past, the people we care about, and how our perception really depends on our perspective and our current state of mind. State. In other words, if you look deep in your past for clues, chances are you’ll find them, whether they’re real or not, because you want to see them so bad.
Reminiscence is currently streaming on Max, and it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re okay with a third-act letdown after a considerable amount of existential buildup.
