In general, I’m not very familiar with noir. Yes, I know what it is, I’ve heard about noir detective stories and femme fatales, I know a little about specific visual techniques – but I haven’t watched any “The Maltese Falcons” or “Double Reinsurance”. Maximum – I’ve seen modern variations on the theme: “Max Payne”, “Drive”, “Nightmare Alley”. But even I can see that “memories” (Reminiscence, 2021) is pure noir. Not even cyberpunk, even if the action takes place in the future.
Miami is almost completely under water due to global warming. Private detective Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman, by the way) with the help of special technology, searches for the necessary moments in human memory so that the customer can relive the past and remember something important. One day, singer May appears on the threshold of his office (Rebecca Ferguson) with a simple request: she forgot where she left her keys. A regular session turns into a full-fledged romance, until one day the woman disappears without a trace.
“Memories” is a film that could have become a cult, but turned out to be simply not bad. Why? Well, here’s an example for you.
There is a scene in the film: we are shown the empty streets of daytime Miami, and then Nick, in a voice-over monologue, tells us that due to global warming, it is too hot during the day, and therefore people are nocturnal. And this scene alone shows several problems.
First of all: there’s a lot of voiceover. The hero often gives “noir” comments about the structure of the world and his experiences. Sometimes it immerses you in the atmosphere (a lengthy monologue at the beginning, for example). But more often, lectures about the world only build a wall in front of the viewer: we do not immerse ourselves in events, but only listen to the story about them. And talking about experiences. Imagine if in Blade Runner 2049, when meeting the pink Joy, Kay would not limit himself to one glance, but would launch into a discussion about what it means to be human, what separates a person from a machine, and who he feels like at the moment.
Secondly, the film is visually underwhelming. Maimi just begs to become a separate character in the story: a half-flooded city, where the streets are blocked by dams, people move more often by boats than by cars, and during the day there is hellish heat. Amazing? Yes! And all this is in the film – but the city still remains a scenery.
Look at the "memories" poster. https://primescratchcardscasino.co.uk For haze, for graininess, for an unnatural combination of colors. All this is not in the film at all. Only a clean picture, only the usual Hollywood palette of “orange – blue”. Even the usual noir techniques like the Dutch angle or shadows from blinds were not brought here.
By the way, “memories” is stylized to resemble the thirties and forties. Cadillacs drive along the streets, some of the equipment is made of brass, and mobile phones flash in the frame only twice during the film. Great? It would be if the styling were the same everywhere. But the film also has plenty of modern-looking buildings, instruments, and weapons. It seems to me that the point is in trying to find a compromise: at the same time maintain the style, and show the future of our, real world. But why? The plot does not relate to the real world, it consists entirely of the attributes of the genre. It made sense to go completely stylized, to create something like a “star team” of “love, death and robots”. But in the end – neither fish nor fowl.
But the main thing is that the direction itself does not allow Miami to flourish. They show us the day many times – but they never show us the heat. The same monologue of Nick could be replaced with several shots: a sultry haze in the air; the blinding sun, in which illuminated surfaces look bright white; the silence of a tired city. But there’s nothing like that. Yes, the film is beautiful. Miami is beautiful. But that’s the beauty of desktop wallpaper, not the living, breathing world.
So why did I say that the film could become a cult classic?? Because his story is good.
The last song should have ended already – so here’s the second one.
The script consists entirely of genre cliches, known even to me – but when watching, I followed not the plot, but Nick. The way he obsessively searches for his missing woman, moves away from loved ones, and gets to know May from new, unsightly sides – that’s what’s addictive. I read in other reviews that you don’t believe in the characters’ romance: they say the script doesn’t show why such a strong love arose between them. And I could agree, if not.
What the script doesn’t finish, they finish. When Rebecca Ferguson says something trivial with hidden pain, you believe it. When Hugh Jackman looks at projections from May’s past with a mixture of longing, anger and happiness – you experience it with him. And when they find themselves in the frame together… The dialogue about Orpheus and Eurydice alone, which runs through the entire film, is worth watching in the original. Moreover, the rest of the actors play no worse – they just rarely get such emotional episodes.
I’ve also heard complaints about how long it is, but for me, this is more of a genre trait. What can you do, this is a film about the pain of loss and nostalgia, and not about dynamic plot twists or crazy action. By the way, there is action – one shootout and one hand-to-hand fight. The shootout was reminiscent of the scene with the “naked gun” shelters, but the fight was hooked. The despair of both heroes was felt in it; each blow was not just a movement of the hand, but an expression of internal pain.
From Jonathan Nolan’s wife (Lisa Joy wrote the script and directed the film), you might expect some kind of flirtation with time and reality, but no: she is interested in the emotions of the characters, not plot twists. There is only one technique that breaks the flow of time: the scenes with May are abruptly interrupted, and the hero gets out of the memory-playing machine. It is repeated several times, but is needed not to confuse the viewer, but to share the happy past with her and the difficult present without her.
The ending is especially worth noting. "Memories" is one of those films whose ending improves the impression of the whole picture. It’s natural for the character, but at the same time it hits you in the gut. And it would have hit harder if the secondary character had not chewed up its meaning with an unnecessary monologue, but these are already details.
“Memories” failed at the box office: with a budget of 68 million, the film collected a ridiculous 13.4. That the critics, that the audience gave him ratings in the region of six, and I can understand why. But I still want to believe that this is not the end of his story.
Remember "the thirteenth floor"? There was a film about virtual reality that was unlucky enough to be released in the same year as The Matrix. Everyone missed him then, but years later they remember him. Not like a masterpiece – it was never a masterpiece – but like good, solid movies. I hope the sad, well-acted but blandly shot film "Memories" meets the same fate.
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