Reminiscence

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: I’m about to write a 1000 word review just to tell you, “I mean, yeah, it’s good.”

          I actually have a slight personal tie to this film. About 5 years back my oldest brother had a connection who was a producer looking for film scripts and had the script for this film. He passed it along to my brother who in turn gave it to me. The simple idea that I had access to a script that went on to both become a feature film and star Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson blows my mind. This was a script by Lisa Joy—co-creator of Westworld and wife of Jonathan Nolan—whom I’m sure we’re all well aware is the brother and sometimes writer for my favorite director Christopher Nolan. I don’t remember all that much of the script, but I do remember finding the idea very intriguing but didn’t impress me enough to leave a lasting impression. It’s very hard to say if this film was a financial bomb or not because it streamed simultaneously on HBO Max (how I watched it), but it did not have an impressive box office haul at the very least. Is this an underrated gem, or is this a high-concept, poor execution film? We’ll find out after a word from today’s sponsor.

          I accept donations in forms of Bitcoin. Now back to the review.

          I liked this film. It’s the near-future Miami, and the setting is a grimmer version of the San Antonio river walk where buildings are mostly underwater and travel by taxi canoes is commonplace. The heat is unbearable during the day, so most people go about their business at night. Either way, our protagonist Nick (Jackman) struggles to sleep while he runs his own business with assistant and Westworld showrunner Thandiwe Newton. They own a machine where you have to strip down to your undies and enter a clear tub of a water-like substance. And that’s it. That’s the business model… No, not really; they inject a relaxant into the customer and place a headset on them. Nick talks to them in a low, sexy voice in a mostly great American accent, and he travels with the customer through their memories which become projected as an interesting hologram looking thing in the room.

          Most of his customers are regulars. There’s an amputee veteran that likes to remember his days before the wheelchair, and a lady who can’t move past her ex-lover. If you remember that scene in Inception with the people that dream all hours of the day, then the dangers of this machine presents itself. Not a perfect human himself, Nick doesn’t judge. And his life takes a spin when the mysterious Mae (Ferguson) shows up because she can’t remember where she left her keys. Nick becomes infatuated with Mae, and after their encounter, he’s determined to find her again.

          Without going into spoilers, I’ll say that I’ve really only touched about the first 20 minutes of this film. The best way to describe things is that this is a film noir with the sci-fi twist of memories that touches the surface of the concept of time the way films like Inception have. The most interesting part of the film is the memory machine. Otherwise, the story isn’t bad, but it’s familiar territory. It’s also fortunate that Nick is written as an ex-soldier himself because there are a couple action scenes thrown in.

          I believe this is Lisa Joy’s directorial feature film debut, and I’ll be honest, she does a great job. All that time working on Westworld prepped her well for how to cinematically approach a scene and incorporate practical and visual effects seamlessly. Everything from the sci-fi to the action is well filmed. But the film also takes itself too seriously. I hope you’re prepared for narration throughout like the whole film. The darker tone would be fine with a more compelling story, but it just feels excessive and you wish Jackman would crack a smile once in awhile or sing about the greatest show. With that said, we all know that Jackman knows how to deliver intensity, and all the leads perform admirably.

          With a rotten 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, I think the critics came down a little harsh. I wouldn’t necessarily bother traveling to the theaters for this one, but if you and your couch are in the mood for a mystery thriller, feel free to stream it. Although the dialogue needs work, the film is still good. But just like the script from years back, you’ll probably end up forgetting about the film soon after. Only to be remembered in your memories. Ahaha…. But really, if this film is what you’re using your memories to remember, then you need to go to the beach. Go tip some cows. Find something at Dollar Tree priced over $1. I don’t know, make some memories.

 

In Brief:

• The Suicide Squad is also on HBO Max. I probably should’ve done a review for this one honestly. The best way to describe this film is James Gunn pitched this film as a joke, but then the studio greenlit it, so he actually gave his best effort. This film is vibrant, gory, hilarious, and stock full of random characters including Polka Dot Man which IGN constantly likes to remind me is a real Batman villain. I would say John Cena was amazing, but I didn’t see him the entire time.
• If you’re looking for something older, I finally got around to Weekend at Bernie’s and it didn’t disappoint. Very irreverent, but even to this day it holds solid jokes. I also watched Al Pacino in Serpico and that was pretty good.
• There’s multiple films coming out in September and October that I’m looking forward to streaming as well as seeing in theaters, so hopefully I manage my time well to make some reviews.