REMINISCENCE - Unofficial & Fan Reviews (Potential Spoilers)

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LOL!

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Z
@realgoldenzed
Au fait je suis allé voir le film Réminiscence hier au ciné, et je conseille. Flashbacks bien géré, science fiction agréable et cohérente. Et Hugh Jackman est vrmt bon dans le rôle d'homme détruit par la vie.

Translated from French by Google
By the way, I went to see the film Reminiscence yesterday at the cinema, and I recommend it. Well-handled flashbacks, enjoyable and coherent science fiction. And Hugh Jackman is really good at being a man destroyed by life.

[jo]

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[jo]

At last! Due to the pandemic REMINISCENCE was not released in cinemas in the Philippines. Nor do we have an HBO-MAX service yet in this part of the world.

So... I finally found a fairly good bootleg ( sharp images, a bit sepia-tinted but otherwise an excellent copy). What was unexpected was that it had subtitles and made the story even easier to follow. i could not wait for a BluRay/DVD if Warner Bros even releases a home video a few months from now.


So, here are my reminiscences from REMINISCENCE --

Reminiscing

about

REMINISCENCE!



Wow!!

What a beautiful, beautiful story!

What a very good and engrossing movie!

I will rate it 10/10 on IMDB.

Maybe because the copy I got has subtitles ( probably intended for non-English speaking countries) it made the viewing more fully comprehensible. I did not even miss what I have read from the original script or whatever it was that Lisa Joy had to edit. It is a full story!


It is a beautiful haunting and devastating mystery story touched by a deeply romantic twist... and framed within a surreal world! It is noir because it was not meant for a happy ending but the story is dark and that suited the genre.

I like mystery stories ( Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, etc...and even some of the early James Bond) with their intriguing plots, characters of different shapes and colors, settings that are deceiving, telltale clues, endings that are not necessarily happy ones because someone is dead... I think that kind of thinking pervaded my appreciation of how complex and touching this movie is!

And the romantic twist made it even more deeply felt. How sad but how romantic their story is!

Each character is wrapped in his own mystery. Nick is not a gumshoe detective. He is a melancholy man leading a listless life...until this complication sets in. He becomes alive not just because he found someone to love...but also because it sets him in a course of being alive when he tries to solve the mystery of Mae. It is a very good role for Hugh Jackman! Dramatic chops and action/thriller notes in a character that wakes up when tragedy befalls him. From a moribund existence to finding a meaning to his life, even if it will inevitably end in tragedy.

Rebecca was also excellent - her haunting singing voice is something I appreciate better than the heralded Never Enough dubbed for her. Her singing is full of languor, full of longing, and hinting at something mysterious. Is she just a siren or someone whose life started on the wrong end and eventually finds her own redemption

Thandiwe completes the triage - but her role is more of the sobering effect on Nick's impulsive actions.

Lisa Joy did not disappoint me at all! She wrote a great script and gave us an excellent movie - storytelling at its best with unforgettable characters!

I think I teared in several instances - it resonated with my emotions -- because it was a beautiful if very melancholy story!

Will discuss more later ...

Off to IMDB to give my blessings

Jo

[jo]

More points to ponder --


* I don't wonder that some respected critics like Manola Drrghis of NYTimes, the respected AVD Club reviewer, the Atlantic Monthly reviewer gave this movie a fresh rating.

* I thought the many side stories might complicate the storytelling unnecessarily. Not so! They were all relevant and did not take too much away from the main storyline. The links were also easy to follow ( could it be because I knew the story beforehand... or people are no longer used to seeing this kind of storytelling)

*The acting was very good all around - from the leads to the smaller roles.

*Based on the trailer - I thought there might be too many or too prolonged action scenes. Just right...and appropriate. Even unusual ones which made the storytelling more interesting ( that tank of eels...the underwater fights).

*No preaching about climate change. The landscape is a foreboding that is not considered a fairy tale these days.

*Hugh has some roles where he is deeply melancholy ( The Fountain/ last parts of Australia/some haunting scenes with SilverMoon&Jean in the XMen movies) - he is good at this - showing deeply-felt emotions. I think many fans only want to see him in either action movies or portraying obsessive or angry men or doing film musicals. There is subtlety in his acting when he is portraying sadness and melancholy. But glimpses of his torso reminded me of his action movies ( hard to imagine how a 51-year old could have an Olympic swimmer body - lol!) His action scenes were very realistic -and even his underwater scenes are proof that he is a strong swimmer.

*The song "Where or When?" haunts me, too - because I remember that from way back then. That it turns out to be part of the mystery makes it play an even more complex role as a musical theme.

*Rebecca is perfect for the role - such beauty and regal bearing! And sadness! She does remind people of Greta Garbo - must be the shared Nordic ancestry... I can't think of another actress who could have done equally well -- maybe Rachel Weisz?

*People praised Thandiwe Newton a lot -- sorry, there is nothing remarkable to me about her portrayal. Maybe she becomes more sympathetic to me in the end-scene where she visits his pod until she is gray and a grandmother.

*Don't people like deeply romantic love stories anymore? It seems to me that we have lost this genre. given how everyone simply wants the type of tentpoles that we get ( superhero, action, horror, disaster, animation, mindless comedies,Disney Princess stories, jukebox musicals). There was a strong of hint of it in The Greatest Showman but that was not discussed so much - not much appreciation for Charity singing about the man she loves in "Tightrope".

*The mystery-solving element easily fell into place -- I did not find the links hard to see and appreciate. I wonder if that was what got audiences confused - that they simply could not follow it.


I hope they release a BluRayDVD -- to give those a chance to make full contrition of their initial reactions

That's it for now.

Jo

[jo]

Some notes from the voting on IMDB --

IMDB accepted my vote of 10/10 for Reminiscence!

29,000 people have voted and the average rating is 5.9 of 10 while the arithmetic mean is 6.0 of 10 ( nowhere near the 37% critics rating and 39% audience score that it got on Rotten Tomatoes).

Take a look at the distribution - a perfect bell curve save for some 1719 who also gave it a perfect 10 like me


www.imdb.com/title/tt3272066/ratings/?ref_=tt_ov_rt


It is also drawing strong attention - # 25 for all movies listed on IMDB -- maybe people are curious why it got an unfair rating when what they saw was much better


Jo

[jo]

On the more rigid and more respected METACRITIC rating system -- it got critic and audience ratings that are much better than that at Rotten Tomatoes! Never happened for at least any Hugh Jackman movies. RT ratings are usually higher.


www.metacritic.com/movie/reminiscence

Critics - 46%
Audience - 52%




For highest-rated Jackman movies --

Bad Education --

Rotten Tomatoes - 93%
Metacritic - 81%


Logan --

Rotten Tomatoes - 93%
Metacritic - 77%

[jo]

A very interesting find --

"Where or When" is a show tune written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the Broadway musical BABES IN ARMS.

"Where or When" is introduced in Babes in Arms by Mitzi Green and Ray Heatherton whose characters, as a result of falling in love with each other, are suffering from a case of deja vu. They feel as though they have met before but are unable to remember exactly "where or when."

Hmm... maybe Lisa Joy intended the song to generate the feeling of deja vu in Reminiscence?
Nick knew it as a song his grandfather sang from way back when.
Mae used it deliberately to provide a link from the past with Nick?
Reminiscence, by itself connotes the past...connotes something that has been experienced before.

Lisa Joy has such an artistic touch... must be the poet in her?

Jo

[jo]

I have not had a chance to read the USERS REVIEWS on IMDB --

www.imdb.com/title/tt3272066/reviews?ref_=tt_ql_3

IMDB users stemmed from when IMDB had message boards and the film buffs would exchange opinions very freel., That was where I realized that many recognized Hugh Jackman's acting forte in The Fountain was extraordinary.

Now many simply submit their reviews of movies. Unlike social media where most entries do not use elegant language and tend to focus on emojis to show their reception of a movie, these users take pain to express how and why they judge a movie in a certain manner.You may enjoy reading them - good or bad - mostly good reviews

No offense meant -- but

I find it amusing that those who wrote 8/9/10 of 10 would elaborate on the reasons, in some cases in quite elegant language. Those who diss the movie tend not to give specifics - mostly use of generic adjectives like boring, etc.


Jo

[jo]

Some people simply see the in-your-face symbols and declare this is all a copy

The artistic hand of Lisa Joy deliberately set the feeling of deja vu all throughout -- the movie is all about what may have been in the past

It is all about reminiscences with a twist!

[jo]

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I rarely contribute to USER Reviews on IMDB. I look generally for useful tips on how to appreciate a movie better.

The reviews are, like the voting (5.9 of 10), divided.

I wanted to say something a little different - one that could help people who have not seen the movie but confused by the divided reviews appreciate the movie better. I wrote it in a matter of a few minutes - as I wanted to come out with a spontaneous reaction.

10/10
Understand the characters!

baj215 September 2021
Beautifully crafted and well-acted... but the heart of this movie is understanding the characters. What motivated Nick Bannister to pursue his "Eurydice" into the dark underworld of crime? What made him wake up from his listless existence as observer to become an active participant in the hunt for the truth? Was Mae a siren or just a lost soul? Was it just lust that drew them together or did they find a place where life had a meaning for them? Each of the other souls had a secret that drove them - the assistant, the underworld kingpin, the henchman/policeman...the tycoon & the wife& the mistress... each of their stories (and many others) collaborated towards this unusual story of intrigue in a dark near-future world. Link all those stories and you will find an unusual story of very human characters to this poignant meeting of fates and motivations. Sad but beautiful tale!

[jo]

Translated by Google --

342_Reminiscence (2021) -Lisa Joy, available at the cinema

Hugh Jackman returns in a premium futuristic scifi thriller! Superb atmosphere and very nice scenario! Would surely deserve a more consistent plot twist, but still great!

9/10

[jo]

Do you remember that the code name for this film project was THE JADE EARRING ?

That piece of jewelry actually played a role in the storyline.

It wasn't just the jewelry which Mae wore when she first came to Nick Bannister's business office, drawing attention to her unusual beauty--

but she used it ( leaving it deliberately on the ground when she tried to come back to Nick but was accosted by the henchman) to provide Nick a sign to follow her ( and that she was there to get help but was left unnoticed).

It symbolized the path/journey that Nick had to take to find out if she was still alive or gone forever.


Jo

[jo]

#Lisajoy #Hughjackman #Reminiscence #SF #サスペンス
Translated from Japanese by Google

Today's book Part 1 No.37 Director: Lisa Joy Starring: Hugh Jackman "Reminiscence"
In the near future, it's a story that goes into people's memories, it's a little difficult to understand, including reality, memory, or timeline, and it's not a movie that you can easily enjoy.

[jo]