‘Reminiscence’ is a 2021 sci-fi thriller mystery film written and directed by Lisa Joy, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, and Cliff Curtis.

Hugh Jackman stars as Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the human mind. He and Watts (Thandiwe Newton) run a facility together with a machine that can access and display people’s memories. Its primary use is to help solve crimes, but Nick allows his friends to use it to relive their happiest memories. One day right before closing time, a woman named Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) walks in needing help finding her keys.

While accessing her memories, Nick is captivated by her sheer beauty and singing voice. He then decides to attend a club where she’s performing to get to know her better and they quickly fall in love. While having an amazing relationship, her sudden disappearance leads Nick to take desperate measures to find his lost love.

The film’s setting can easily be a story of its own, with the plot taking place sometime in the future and showing the effects of global warming. ‘Reminiscence’ takes place in Miami with a lot of it being underwater. All the roads that can still be driven on are under at least a foot of water, while transport through the rest of the city is primarily done by boat. There is a brief explanation at the beginning, but the movie’s main focus is on Nick’s relentless search for Mae.

This allows for the city half-buried in water to just feel like its natural setting and creates some spectacular visuals as characters traverse around the city and seeing how people have naturally adapted to their surroundings.

The overall story is definitely intriguing and will have audiences anticipating what happens next. With the film being almost two hours long, there are moments where it feels it drags on a bit too much. The first hour of the movie definitely feels like the slowest, but the pace quickly picks up right after that. While it may feel the movie could’ve done with 15-30 minutes less, on the plus side it does manage to leave very few unanswered questions and plot holes after several plot twists and gives a very conclusive ending.

Even with its long movie length, Hugh Jackman’s performance definitely stands above all. Seeing his character’s sheer determination to find his lost love by breaking the rules, undermining other cases, and putting his life at risk all for a woman he knew only for a short period. Even as he finds out shocking truths about Mae that make him second guess his interest in her, he still doesn’t let that stop him from trying to find her whereabouts just to see her one more time. Rebecca Ferguson as Mae will also captivate audiences with her beauty and grace, even if her life isn’t what it appears to be.

Native Māori actor Cliff Curtis from New Zealand plays one of the villains, Cyrus Booth. While we can’t give the plot away of what his involvement in the story is, it’s definitely worth noting his diverse acting range of being able to play characters of various ethnicities whether it’s Hispanic, Indian, Middle Eastern, or in this movie, an Italian-American gangster with a ruthless persona.

No matter the character he plays, he’s always been able to nail any ethnicity he portrays from appearance, accent, and mannerisms. His villain role in ‘Reminiscence’ is just another great example of his diverse acting ability.

The film is truly a unique mystery story that naturally utilises the film’s setting and futuristic technology of its time, and is a solid first entry in Lisa Joy’s feature directorial debut. Even with a lengthy movie time, the stellar performance of the whole cast, especially Hugh Jackman, will have audiences glued to their seats waiting to see what happens next with all the twists and turns along the way. ‘Reminiscence’ is a beautiful love story that won’t fade from our memories anytime soon.

Written by: Sammy Hanson