Reminiscence

In the near future, The oceans have started to reclaim the earth. From this catastrophe came the battle for the borders wars for the remaining dry land. People who lived behind protective walls survived, but those who weren’t drowned. Then came the land barons who bought up all the dry land (now called baron country) for pennies on the dollar, profiting off of the desperate trying to escape the floods.

In this future a technology exists to allow users to relive memories as a way to escape the grimness of this mostly-flooded earth called reminiscences. It started as an interrogation tool but after the war it was used by people to visit the happy memories of their past. People wanted to be reunited with a loved ones, to revisit the most meaningful moments of their lives, or even to just find something that was lost. Once visited these memories can be viewed in a 3D holographic chamber that plays them like movies and are saved on a chip in a secure vault.

The danger of using this technology to revisit the same memory over and over again is that it can consume you to a point that you can get “burned” with that one memory running in an endless loop in your mind. Nick Bannister (played by Hugh Jackman) and Emily “Watts” Sanders (played by Thandiwe Newton) are private investigators of the mind as the technology is also used by law enforcement, particularly the DA’s office for interrogating witnesses to convict criminals. They also use this technology to make a living, after serving together during the war.

Living in what is called the Sunken Coast which resembles Venice with it’s waterways and people using boats for travel, is one of the many hardship for this modern day life. People became nocturnal since it’s to hot to roam during the day, and even the border wars were fought after sunset. People also often used a very powerful drug called “Bacca” the story’s equivalent to crack cocaine. Most who become addicted to it, can never stop.

Early on we see Nick meet Mae (played by Rebecca Ferguson) who comes to his workshop simply wanting to be able to find her lost keys, but their is an instant attraction between the two. As Nick and Mae have their intense love affair, Nick begins to learn about Mae’s life or the parts that she is willing to reveal. It isn’t until she disappears and he investigates that he discovers there is much more.

After Mae disappears Nick constantly relives all of their time together in the reminiscence for months. Watts attempts to help him but it has now become an obsession. Business has been declining and even regulars have stopped visiting. It isn’t until Nick interrogates a witness for the DA, that he accidentally begins to learn about Mae’s secret life.

He discovers her life with a Bacca drug kingpin known as Saint Joe (played by Daniel Wu) and a dirty cop Cyrus Boothe (played by Cliff Curtis) from 5 years in her past. He also discovers that she was an addict. It’s there that his journey into the dark underworld that is Mae’s secret life begins. Nick starts to wonder if Mae ever loved him at all, and once he discovers that he has been conned he starts his search for why, which is the true mystery of this movie.

This film has excellent cinematography in showing how the flooding has affected cities, landscape, and peoples lives but does leave you feeling lack lustered with it’s total presentation. In the ending, even though the mystery is explained, it is less than satisfying as not all of the clues needed for you the viewer to solve it were given. Instead it seems the writer focused more on the love affair and later obsession that Nick has for Mae hence the how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love.

Final thoughts: Love can be a mystery in itself, and in the end we wonder at times if the one we love does truly love us. It can bring about jealousy, pain, suffering and many times doubting the worth of it all. But the underling theme of this movie is simply this: Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Up Next Review: Sweet Girl

Ending Credits

Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance

Director: Lisa Joy

Writer: Lisa Joy

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, Daniel Wu, Cliff Curtis

Filming & Production: FilmNation Entertainment, Kilter Films, Michael De Luca Productions

Release Dates: 08/20/2021

Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Content|Drug Material Throughout|Some Strong Language|Strong Violence)

Running Length: 1h 56m

My Rating: 6.00

Worth Adding to the Movie Collection: Yes

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