Yet another film that introduces itself for me. This is 2021’s Reminiscence, and we’re
definitely in for a trippy ride. In a world that loves to relive the past, of course there
are going to be films that use the idea of digging through people’s memories to solve
crimes. This one was nice enough to throw Hugh Jackman in, so it’s already a win in
my book.
Spoiler alert. For those that want to watch the film on their own time, links to the film
are in the description below.
As we open over a flooded metropolitan, it’s clear that this is set in the future. The
streets are flooded, and we hear Nick Bannister talking to us about how the past is a key
moment in the time we are on this planet. As Nick walks the flooded streets, he comes
to his office building and meets his assistant, Emily.
As she helps him get dressed for his client, the two of them go into his work space where
he meets his client, and we see the device that he uses to delve into the client's memories.
This sounds like an addicting service for them to provide. The amount of people that
would be hooked on reliving the past to see loved ones, old flames, relive the glory days,
or experience that one night stand again. The possibilities are endless, and someone
has to make a living off of it. That’s where Nick and Emily come in. If you could relive
a memory, what would you want to see?
As Nick paints the picture of his client’s memory, he can see it play out before him,
and we see that the client just wants to spend time with his dearly departed dog again. After
letting his old buddy know that it’s on the house, Emily shows her disdain for giving
free trips, but Nick has faith.
Didn’t we just call that? It doesn’t matter how much we say something is going to wind
up being a bad thing. It’s too powerful of an experience to deny the possibility.
If people had this as an addiction, they probably wouldn’t turn to other harmful addictions.
After explaining how it affects different people, Nick talks about how it can be crippling
to some people to rely on delving into the past to live in the present. After a long
day at work, Emily and Nick are surprised by an unexpected visitor. Mae comes in and
asks for them to help her find her lost keys.
So, I can imagine that delving into this tank isn’t cheap, and you’re going to put out
that much money for a pair of lost keys that would probably cost less than ten dollars
to replace? Even a locksmith would only be about 100 or so. This feels fishy, but to
each their own.
As Nick takes notice of her, he begins her trip into the night before to relive her actions.
As he spots when she takes her keys, he has her follow her line of events through each
time she handles her keys, but he notices something else. Something is wrong with Mae.
After Emily tries to pull her out, Nick makes her wait while he watches her sing for work,
and he seems to fall madly in love with her performance. Once they close up, Nick heads
home in the daylight, and we find out that this is actually Miami. Honestly, you can’t
tell much difference between this Miami and what it is now. Just a little bit of extra
water on the streets.
The cities are nocturnal to get out of the unbearable heat of day, but something haunts
Nick's memories that makes it hard for him to sleep. After some sleep, Nick goes to meet
with the DA, Avery, but her case against a land baron named Sylvan isn’t going as planned.
So, Nick heads to the Sunken Coast to try and find Mae at her job.
I feel like there is a point where professional courtesy has to pop up and play it’s part.
This dude delved into her memories, saw her naked, and now he’s using that information
to try and give her her earrings back? Or at least that’s how it will be played up.
We all know he would’ve found a reason to show up there now that he’s heard her.
After everyone has left, Mae approaches him at the bar and thanks him for returning her
earrings. After a little social experiment on how the mind works, the two of them end
up going on a little excursion to Mae’s apartment.
She knows what’s going on! She knows how good she looks, and she knows that he’s
hooked. I can’t tell if we should trust her yet, but my first guess is no.
After she approaches Nick, the two of them quickly remove their clothes, and things get
hot and heavy real quick! This whole scene is something that Nick will probably be reliving
quite a bit. She mounted him like a praying mantis!
After their ‘night’ together, Nick goes up to the roof to have a lovely conversation
with her, and she asks why he doesn’t really go in the tank. He explains that reliving
memories are ok in small doses, and the world begins to turn on him.
Oh! Nice little sneaky time hop they did on us there. The classic, he’s been in the
memory this whole time!
As Emily asks him not to go back in the tank, Nick simply continues questioning why Mae
left him even though they had been planning a whole future together. Emily doesn’t know.
She assumes Mae has moved on, and she wants Nick to do the same.
Emily is that strong supporting character that you wish everybody had one of. Drink
your weight in whiskey, forget about her, and move one. Solid advice.
Nick can’t get over how Mae simply vanished, but Emily tries to get him to understand they
need a day job to keep them afloat. So, Nick goes home to rest before meeting with Avery.
In his memory, he explains his journal of memories to Mae, and she finds out that it’s
full of the memories of the people he interrogated in the war. Even in his memory of her, he
wonders where she disappeared to. He goes to her work to ask about her, but she just
isn’t there.
You don’t say! Everything points to her being a ghost or a part of people who are
made to disappear, but he just can’t figure it out.
As he continues delving into memories of them, we see that he already fell in love with her
after only a few months together, but even her face looks uneasy at the idea of settling
down in a future with Nick. Nick eventually takes her to a place that overlooks the Sunken
Coast, but he’s woken up by the sound of an alarm. When he wakes up, he sees a note
Emily left him that reminds him to go to Avery.
When he goes outside to investigate a knocking sound, he finds something in the watery street.
Mae’s earring is simply lying in the street. Now it just seems like she’s toying with
him! Just leave him be if she doesn’t want to be with him.
Soon, Nick and Emily arrive at the police station where Avery has a criminal she needs
evidence from, and they set up to delve into his mind. After spending all day, Nick confirms
that the criminal is dying so it is harder to get anything out of him. Once Nick tries
a new approach, he finds the man he’s looking for. Saint Joe is played in the memory, and
he’s talking to Cyrus Boothe.
While in the memory, Nick sees Mae singing at the club, but the footage is from over
5 years ago. After delving further, we see that Saint Joe has a sweet spot for Mae and
Cyrus is a dirty cop. Nick sees that Mae simply falls farther into the rabbit hole and is
actually a druggie that stole from Saint Joe.
That’s a habit you don’t just kick. She was playing nice with him, but which version
of Mae is the real one. Nick has no idea, but now he has to find out for himself, so
he heads to New Orleans to trace the memories he just saw.
Once in New Orleans, Nick goes to Saint Joe’s base and says he’s a friend of the criminal
they interrogated. That lie is quickly seen through, and Saint Joe interrogates Nick about
why he’s really there. Once he mentions that Mae is what brought him there, Joe feels
sorry for Nick, but not enough to let him go.
That would make me a little concerned no matter who’s side I was on at that point. Sure
enough, it’s Emily, and she shoots everyone in sight as she helps Nick escape.
Once back at their office, Emily asks Nick what he’s really looking for in his memories
of Mae. When she realizes that Nick thinks Mae took some memories from him, she can’t
believe it, but that changes when he makes her remember the last time she was there.
We see that she confronted Mae about hiding something, and Mae admits to having been an
addict. We also see that Mae pieces together that Emily has feelings for Nick, but that’s
the last we see of the memory. When she comes out of the tank, she begins to defend her
feelings, but Nick shows her that since she got drunk, Mae got access to the vault and
took the memories of Elsa Carine.
That night, Nick heads to the floating market to look for Elsa, and he finds a friend that
tells him she’s dead and a red headed woman took her child.
I think this is getting a little too convoluted to really justify looking for this woman anymore.
He’s not even a cop! Chock it up to romance lost in the wind and move on to the next one!
When he thinks he hears the tune they share a fondness for, Nick ventures into an abandoned
building, and Cyrus is there to beat him with a flashlight. After telling Nick to forget
about her, he calls someone and says Nick won’t be bothering them anymore.
LEAVE HER BE! When you get beat with a flashlight in an abandoned circus building, it’s time
to stop!
When Emily pulls Nick out, they piece together who Cyrus is, and they head to Avery. It turns
out that Sylvan had died before his deposition, and his widow and son are being walked out.
The widow was actually an old client of Nick’s, and this sparks a memory for him.
When he goes back in the widow’s memory, he hears a voice that reminds him of one of
Elsa’s memories, and he realizes that Walter Sylvan is actually the father of her child.
Ok. Things are getting a little turned around now. As a quick recap in a recap, Sylvan has
a widow that he has a son with. He also is the father of Elsa’s son who was taken by
a red haired woman that helped kill Elsa. AND Cyrus is in town trying to get Nick off
of Mae’s tail. All this convoluted timeline broken down into three sentences.
As Nick and Emily go over what they knew, Nick tries to send Emily away from him by
setting her up with another job, because he’s too obsessed with this case to let her in.
At first she’s reluctant to the idea, but she finally realizes she has no choice. Otherwise,
she won’t survive him.
Nick makes his way to the barons where the ground was dry, and the rich survive there.
Nick goes to see Mrs. Sylvan, but when he’s there, he gets roped into an audition to play
Mr. Sylvan in a sick way to relive a fantasy memory. He tries to get through to her, but
she’s caught in the memory. Nick brings her to a mirror and makes her face reality.
She explains that Boothe and Mae are working together, and at one point, Mae was working
with Sylvan. When her son comes in, she goes back to her fantasy and has Nick kicked out.
Hell? This still just looks like Miami. I guess he’s not too far off though. If anyone
is from Miami, tell me if you recognize any of this!
Soon, he finds Mae, but when he follows her, he finds Boothe is making another woman play
her part. He tells the woman to get out of there, and Boothe hums the song that Nick
remembers from his first meeting with Mae. After finding out that everything had been
meticulously researched, Boothe jumps out the window and eventually disarms Nick.
Are we sure Mae is the mastermind? Cyrus Boothe seems pretty conniving and quick to land on
his feet through this whole encounter. After watching a lot of Nick’s encounters, it
still boggles my mind that this man survived two tours during a war. He’s literally been
bested in every encounter so far. Emily on the other hand, I would believe is a heartless
killer that saved his life through the entire time.
Nick even gets the best of Cyrus finally, and he traps his arm in a grand piano that
sinks to the depths. Nick then jumps in after him, saves him, and gets left down there!
Even when he wins, he ends up losing! This man needs a sidekick.
As Cyrus sits up top thinking about Mae, Nick quietly sneaks out of the hole and administers
a sedative that puts him out. When he comes to, Nick has him rigged in the tank to jump
into his memories too.
Again! I’d say that’s enough warning to just turn him into the authorities, then just
be done. Go find Emily! Build the business back up!
Nick goes back to when Cyrus first met Mae, and he finds out that Saint Joe sent Cyrus
to collect Mae. He ends up recruiting Mae to set up Nick. Nick finally realizes that
he was simply a mark this whole time, until he sees that Mae finally gained a conscience
and fell for Nick.
Nick moves forward and sees how it was all to find out about Elsa and Freddie. We see
Cyrus kill Elsa, but Mae arrives just in time to save Freddie and take off in a boat. When
he realizes that Mae came back for him the day he found her earring, he sees that Cyrus
kidnapped her before he could open the door. He makes Cyrus take his memories to what he
did to Mae, and he sees that he overloaded her with drugs and tortures her into telling
him where she hid Freddie.
Let me clarify. None of this redeems her for her behavior this whole time, but she gets
it right this time. Mae begins speaking to Nick through Cyrus’ memory, and I can just
imagine that Cyrus is a little bit like what the hell is going on here?
She expresses her feelings for Nick and hints on where Freddie is hiding. Once she says
Nick’s name, she stabs Cyrus in the chest and throws herself over the edge. Once Nick
collects himself, he makes Cyrus relive the night he got burnt, and makes it so he has
to replay that night over and over.
He might not have been able to really defend himself this whole movie, but this was a just
way to handle all of this. Perfect.
Nick leaves him there and heads for the Sylvan residence. Once there, he interrogates the
Sylvan boy. Nick knew that his father had an affair, and he had Boothe sent to kill
Elsa and Freddie. Nick tells him that the police picked up Freddie earlier that morning,
and they were on their way to get him.
The son picks up the gun and goes to shoot Nick, but eventually turns it on himself.
Damn! That’s cold for a mother, but he still can’t bring himself to do it.
After everything is all said and done, Nick goes to see Emily, and he technically turns
himself in with the reminiscences of the people involved in this drama. In his final moments
with her, he tells the story of what happened, and he uses that as his confession to his
crimes.
As Nick walks through a city on fire, he sees that justice was served to all those that
were deserving of it. In his last moments, Nick goes into the tank and relives the entire
story we just saw with him and Mae.
Coming full circle really seems like the only good ending they could’ve expected in a
story as dreary as this one.
After a quick recap of what we’ve just experienced, we see that time has passed and years later,
Emily visits with her daughter to leave flowers. An old man stuck in his memory.
While living in the past can be a dangerous idea, I can imagine much worse ways to live
out my last days than to relive the best times of my life so far. In the end, everyone got
the best of what they could’ve expected. This was a highly anticipated film, and it
was definitely for good reason. Definitely check it out when you have time.
Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the video. Don’t forget to like and subscribe
for more like this one. Comment what you think I should watch next, and I’ll see you in
the next video.