Memory and how it plays with the mind has been a common theme in sci-fi cinema and one of the most talked about examples is Westworld which was co-created by Lisa Joy. These memories can be real, implanted or manipulated. Here, Writer-Director Joy melds those notions with a noir vision (memory also has a long history within the noir canon). REMINSCENCE has a jaded ex-soldier Nick (Hugh Jackman) as a businessman who facilitates customers to re-experience their memories in a sort of virtual reality sphere of the mind. His assistant is an ex-military buddy, Emily (Thandie Newton). The set-up is fairly quick but then meanders for much of the first act. Jackman is too low key -- add in Newton's bored demeanor and it starts to get lethargic. Things pick up a bit with as Nick takes up with one of his clients, the alluring and mysterious Mae (Rebecca Ferguson). An obvious femme fatale to everyone but Nick. The harvesting of memories isn't a new concept, and, at times one wonders why its even necessary as the basic plot gimmick could work just about as well by replacing the memory machine with hypnosis or truth serum. But, of course, that wouldn't lend itself to special effects which are often sharp looking but sometimes the over-bright daytime CGI resembles the dream projections. There is some visual panache and the world building with puddles. Floods and social strife is interesting if incompletely realized. The future noir BLADE RUNNER allusions are frequent and not disguised, and there are bits of MINORITY REPORT, BRAINSTORM and any number of classic noirs; And, of course, Joy's own Westworld. Derivative plot points aside, Joy's script relies on a twist that is not only easily guessed, but, is explicitly telegraphed a full half hour prior. Again, the only one who is fooled is Jackman's Nick -- and, by extension, the filmmakers themselves. Jackman can be a charismatic actor, but, his burned out Nick displays little of that. Buried in the morass is a decent subplot involving a secondary character, an older woman who is tied to a crime that Mae is involved with. The woman has fully fallen into a world where her memories of youth have completely taken over her benighted soul. If only there were more such explorations in REMINSCENCE rather than just this pallid attempt.
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