Though we may not realize it, most of us film nerds love a good film noir story, or at least elements from them. The mystery, the suspense, the class, the grit, the seemingly jaded lead that still has a good heart deep down. Although only becoming mainstream around the 1940s, this not entirely old genre has seeped into our pop culture almost as much as the Superhero film. For lovers of the genre like myself, the good news is most writers and directors love it way more than most people, and we’ll never be lacking in new material. The drawback…well a lot of the classic tropes may have started to feel overdone. Hoping to prevent it from becoming stale, writer’s are constantly finding new ways to re-invent film noir…leading of course to the “cyber-noir” (futuristic sci-fi flavored noir in laymen’s terms) sub-genre. I can safely say Bladerunner alone contributed greatly to my of love of both sci-fi and noir.
And here we come to Reminiscence, the latest entry in the cyber-noir continuum. Starring Hugh Jackman as Nick Bannister (the most noir name I’ve ever heard), a specialist who uses special technology to help people relive their most treasured memories with the help of his assistant Watts (Thandiwe Newton.) When the beautiful client Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) enters his life, then mysteriously vanishes months later, Bannister obsessively tries to solve the mystery of her disappearance–through any means necessary. The film was written and directed by Lisa Joy, who also created the Westward series and also wrote for Pushing Daisies, so we know we are in the hands of a sci-fi nerd who loves a good mystery.
Set in Miami a dystopian near future in which global warming has already very much left it’s impact, Reminiscence certainly doesn’t look exactly like any other cyber noir film. For starters, most of Miami is flooded in this world’s future, which is often shown in some very impressive looking scenery glory shots. Because the daytime has become intolerably hot to the average person, most people in this setting now live and work during the nighttime, making the day the perfect time to commit crime and solve mysteries. You guessed it. In an ironic twist, most of the action in this noir film takes place during peak daytime hours, making it one of the brightest of it’s genre I’ve ever seen. I’m actually intrigued by the idea of a bright noir film, as that is definitely a subversion of what we would normally expect. After all, its not really the physical darkness that defines the genre, but the overall feeling that must be there.
On the other hand, the aesthetic is where the uniqueness of this movies ends. Reminiscence is indeed reminiscent of many films we’ve already seen, namely of course, Bladerunner and Minority Report. On top of that, it has a heavy dose of classic 1950’s noir influence as well. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure it was trying to be all that original. I’m not trying to say Lisa Joy blatantly copied any of these movies because she couldn’t come up with anything better. I do think she is just a lover of pop culture and wanted to include as many nods to her favorite movies as she could while still being able to play around with her own original characters and plot. Hey it works for Tarantino, why shouldn’t it work for her?
Something I can definitely say as a positive is the cast. No matter what, Hugh Jackman always brings it, and once again, I’m impressed by his performance. It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen him play a sad, cynical character a 100 times, I’m always down to see it again. I hate to say it, but Thandiwe Newton may have out bad-assed Hugh Jackman this time, which is no easy feat! I may be biased because she was one of my favorite parts of Westworld, but Newton is always perfect at playing my ideal type of strong female character, all while staying both classy and vulnerable.
One of the main issues that may not make this film for everyone is the writing. Staying true to genre, it’s extremely dialogue heavy, with far more talking scenes than action. For me, that’s 100% fine. For many who may not like so much talking or going into it expecting The Matrix amounts of action, it may be a bit wordy to digest. Like any good mystery, it takes a decent amount of time to unravel what’s actually happening. I can’t say it could have been shortened in any way without sacrificing important plot in some way, but there are definite times in which the movie feels a bit draggy. At the same time, because scenes were allowed to breathe more, I felt it was much easier to follow what was going on than in other noir films my first time watching them.
While it may lack in some originality, Reminiscence is still a solid entry in both the noir and cyber-noir genres. Maybe it’s because I love noir so much that I want to see it as a self-aware homage rather than anything terribly ground breaking. And, again I may be projecting, but I honestly think that was the director’s intent. Sometimes, in order to keep a genre alive, you need to stick as close to the tried and true as possible. If anything, now I want to watch Bladerunner again–all 5 versions.
