When I first saw a commercial for Reminiscence, my initial thoughts were Warner Bros. was trying to make up for the fact that Christopher Nolan never made a sequel to Inception (his Batman films are the only movies he’s made sequels to). Everyone is comparing this movie to Inception. It’s unavoidable. But having watched Reminiscence, it’s doubtful that it will spawn a franchise, if that was ever the intention.
What Reminiscence really feels like is an episode of Westworld, which makes sense since it’s from the same duo behind that show, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan’s brother. The biggest similarity is the movie and show’s fusion of old school genres with futuristic technology. Whereas Westworld deals primarily in the Wild West, Reminiscence draws heavily from film noir. Unfortunately, Reminiscence doesn’t showcase what’s best about science fiction or noir.
On the science fiction front, the film doesn’t utilize the titular Reminiscence tech, which lets people relive events exactly as they remember them, in any mind-bending ways. Besides using it as a framing device, the film has little concern whether an event is happening for real. The world of Reminiscence, ravaged by rising sea levels and war, does offer some cool visuals. A movie showing exactly how things got this way would’ve been more interesting.
As far film noir goes, Reminiscence has the basics of the genre down but doesn’t understand the finer details. This is most apparent in the romance between Nick (Hugh Jackman, Bad Education) and Mae (Rebecca Ferguson, Doctor Sleep). The best noir couples are victims of forbidden love. Nick and Mae’s relationship, while not a fairytale, is more wholesome.
Mae is supposed to be this two-sided character, but it doesn’t work. While Rebecca Ferguson sings her own songs, Mae doesn’t ooze sexuality the way great femme fatales played by Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner did, and she isn’t sympathetic like Sean Young was in Blade Runner. That’s not to say she has no chemistry with Jackman. They do share one notable love scene together, though it’s mostly made provocative by the cinematography, not what they do or how much of them we see.
While the script certainly doesn’t do Ferguson any favors, it hurts Hugh Jackman more. Jackman’s real-life charisma is virtually absent on screen, and the movie doesn’t play to his ability to portray a gruff loner. We get a hopeless romantic whose obsession doesn’t cut it because Nick and Mae’s relationship feels superficial. The romance might have benefited from several extra minutes to develop.
Other elements of the film also don’t work. For instance, one particular aspect about Watts (Thandiwe Newton, Solo: A Star Wars Story) mirrors Newton’s Westworld character too closely. The plot itself plays into noir’s bad tendency of having convoluted narratives, as seen in stories like The Big Sleep. WB marketed the film as an action-thriller when it’s more of a mystery. Noir can usually get by on little action, but in this case the film is so boring that I missed plot points because my mind was on other things. Christopher Nolan (often with his brother) makes movies that are complicated yet entertaining, and they’re fun to piece together upon second viewing. This movie is nothing like that.
Despite saying that added time might have improved Reminiscence, it’s already a slog to get through. Its themes, plot, and visuals can’t make up for the lack of action. I just hope negative criticism doesn’t discourage writer-director Lisa Joy. It’s a hard industry to make a name for yourself in and a director’s first movie isn’t always good. I’d like to see more from her.
