Wouldn't you like to get stuck in your happiest memories? Given how brutal reality can be, that sure could sound appealing under the right circumstances. For Reminiscence protagonist, Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman), the appeal of the past fuels his business, which is built on technology that allows people to relive their happiest memories (for a price, of course). In the dystopian future, he and everyone else inhabits, in which climate change has caused cities like Miami to become flooded, who wouldn't want some escape? Among those looking to the past is Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), a customer who quickly becomes a lover to Bannister.
Unfortunately, she eventually vanishes very suddenly one day, leaving Bannister in a stupor he can't get out of for months. When he stumbles on a revelation regarding Mae's past in the memories of a random gangster, Bannister sets out to find the truth. Not only does he wanna know where Mae went, but he also wants to know if she was really the woman he knew and loved.
Reminiscence is a rare beast for a modern theatrical release from a major American movie studio, a neo-noir with a mid-budget price tag that isn't based on any pre-existing source material. The freedom of not adhering to an established universe gives writer/director Lisa Joy to conjure up a futuristic world full of interesting nooks and crannies. I especially love the fact that the omnipresent monorails and technology that accesses people's memories are straight out of a Hunger Games movie, but characters also use certain old-timey objects, like old-school microphones. The dissonance subtly suggests how, in a future so gripped with climate change and economic inequality, the future can't help but feel like something from the past.
There's also a handful of supporting performances that really lean into the kind of acting you could really only get in a noir. Daniel Wu as gangster Saint Joe especially thrills in this department as he channels the kind of endearing yet intimidating slimeball role that would've been played by Peter Lorre back in the day. Cliff Curtis as a crooked cop, meanwhile, may not have a ton to do but what he does get is infused with a world-weariness that feels right at home in the noir genre. Speaking of noir hallmarks, props to Joy for coming up with an in-universe reason (concerning how, in a future brutalized by climate change, daytime is too hot to go out in) for why this story takes place at night, the classic backdrop for noirs.
Unfortunately, that same slavish devotion to classic noirs ends up harming Reminiscence in other areas. Chiefly, the central storyline is surprisingly content to just go through a basic setup involving an angsty white guy yearning for a barely defined lady that left him abruptly. The familiarity wouldn't be much of a problem except that Joy strangely refuses to embellish it with unique or fun touches despite setting this yarn in a futuristic setting. Often, even the technology that accesses memories feels like an afterthought to a basic noir that could've taken place at any point in time. Plus, it's strange to see the traditional gender roles of this genre maintained so rigidly, save for Thandiwe Newton getting to inhabit a non-romantic interest role as Bannister's co-worker Watts.
Save for that character, though, Mae, like so many other women in the more disposable entries in this genre, is reduced to being a prop meant to motivate Bannister rather than a character. Joy also makes an odd narrative decision to abruptly jump from Bannister and Mae meeting each other directly to a few months later when she's gone missing. The idea of these two being a romantic couple has only just now entered the story and now we're suddenly supposed to be invested in Bannister chasing down any clues about Mae to the ends of the Earth. The clumsy structuring there is something Reminiscence can never overcome, especially since the ensuing story fails to flesh out their relationship in a compelling fashion.
Despite the emotional core of it being so familiar and often hollow, Reminiscence never truly bored me, probably since the actors (including a grizzled Hugh Jackman, even if his uber-muscular physique is hysterically inappropriate for this character) and the world-building proved moderately intriguing. Unfortunately, those two elements aren't enough to salvage a paint-by-numbers neo-noir as well as other flaws like well-meaning but very shallow attempts at social commentary on issues like income inequality. There's a lot of ideas floating around in Reminiscence, some of them quite interesting. Alas, this is one movie that needed to get its head out of the past and focus more on delivering something unique in the here-and-now.
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