Reminiscence (2021)

Director: Lisa Joy

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton

Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the mind, navigates the alluring world of the past when his life is changed by new client Mae. A simple case becomes an obsession after she disappears and he fights to learn the truth about her.

Hugh Jackman stars as Nick, who is able to send people back in time to relive their memories – or even just to find your car keys if you’ve lost them! One such client is Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), who seeks his help in finding her keys.

This hardly sounds like an interesting premise, and is not exactly unlike anything we’ve not seen before. While the visuals are excellent, the story felt stale – especially when it became a love story. Yawn, been there, done that… I so enjoyed Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson together in ‘The Greatest Showman’, but here it felt cold between them. I didn’t like Mae, as her true intentions were never clear. Nick clearly was infatuated by her (yeah, I think it was more lust than love – Hollywood often gets this wrong). Mae, however, was somewhat mysterious, and not in a good way. The love story felt forced.

I far more rooted for Emily (Thandiwe Newton), and think an eventual love interest between her and Nick would have been more satisfying. When Mae disappears, Nick uses Reminiscence to hold on to the memories of her, and tries to find her again. The film became more interesting, but on a different level. It became a mystery begging to be unraveled. Unfortunately then, the film ultimately also became confusing.

The film’s visuals are excellent. The performances are good and the directing is good. I blame the script for the film not being as interesting as it could have been. Hugh Jackman is always a delight to watch, so he made it worth watching.

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who couldn’t connect with the film. It sadly only made $15.5 million at the box office, on a budget of $54-68 million. Ouch!

Would I watch it again? No.