Back in 2016, and after writing some episodes of Pushing Daisies and the criminally underrated fun that is Burn Notice, Lisa Joy became a more recognizable name thanks to her work co-creating HBO’s Westworld with her husband Jonathan Nolan. The series, an adaptation -and expansion- of Michael Crichton’s film of the same name has been positively received, showcasing her skills both as a writer and director on a number of episodes, meaning that it was probably a matter of time before she made the jump to the big screen with a project of her own. And indeed it was a matter of time, as the project initially surfaced on the Black List -a compilation of the best unproduced screenplays of each year- back in 2013.

Eight years have passed, but, despite this, Joy’s Reminiscence feels more timely than ever, as it is centered around the idea of looking back at our memories, times in which everything was better, perhaps unbeknownst to us. Set in a not-so-distant future in which the sea has covered a large surface of the earth -though not in a Waterworld style, think more on an out-of-control Venice kind of way-, a scientist (Hugh Jackman) who, helped by his colleague -played by Thandiwe Newton- makes a living by giving people the chance of revisiting certain moments of their past thanks to a machine that he created himself. Things take a turn after the woman he has fallen in love with -Rebecca Ferguson- suddenly vanishes. It is then when he starts to use his own technology in order to look back to his past to discover the reasons behind her mysterious disappearance.

In Reminiscence we are given the necessary elements that make a tech-noir possible. To start, we have Jackman as the hardened man who loses control of his life after falling deeply in love with a femme-fatale (Ferguson) who might, or might not, have a complicated past from which she wants to escape. On top of that, we also have some wealthy and shady looking figures -lead by the always underused Brett Cullen- and to add up another layer, we have a look at the criminal underbelly of the city. However, despite Reminiscence being a good looking and well shot film -with a cinematography by Paul Cameron- and having believable performances by Jackman, Ferguson and Newton, the film does not work completely, leaving me with mixed feelings instead.

For starters, although kudos should be given to Joy for creating a film that is original and it is neither a sequel, reboot or remake and does not belong to a franchise -or is intended as a franchise starter-, it draws too much inspiration from other films in the sense that it might make you think of films as diverse as Chinatown or even Blade Runner, but Reminiscence never gives the impression that it is going to bring anything new to the conversation, and it does not. As a side note, Joy makes the same mistake Christopher Nolan did in Tenet by also including a character -shaped like a child but with none of the humanity of one- whose only function is to act as a MacGuffin, but is given neither personality, nor much dialogue to say, meaning we as audience feel little connection to the character and by extension the motivation of others closer to him. In addition to all that, it is welcome to see a film that takes itself seriously most of the time and does not rely on a third act packed with explosions and car chases, choosing on its place a denouement that is more memorable, poignant, and probably the strongest part of the film. However this seriousness translates to having an excess of scenes that drag for too much and slow down the main story, making you feel the film is longer than it really is.

All things considered, Reminiscence is not bad by any means. It is clear that Joy knows what she is doing at all times and, although it could be said that the film is a somewhat missed opportunity -it might have worked better as a miniseries, considering it was also released on HBO Max-, it is a good entry in the tech-noir genre. The main issue of Joy’s feature length debut is that, its main focus is on the past rather than on the future, therefore the film -as its characters who are keen on revisiting cherished moments of their lives-, is influenced by classics that will make nostalgic cinephiles look back, but it does not bring anything new to inspire a future generation of film enthusiasts.