Reminiscence (2021)
Directed by Lisa Joy
No — Reminiscence is not especially woke, scoring 27 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
A memory-retrieval noir set in a half-drowned Miami, Reminiscence arrives with the weary confidence of a film that has studied its elders closely and learned mostly their posture.
Consciousness Markers
A notably diverse ensemble including Thandiwe Newton in a major co-lead role, plus Cliff Curtis, Daniel Wu, Marina de Tavira, and Natalie Martinez, though the characters are not defined by their identities.
A partially flooded future Miami where rising seas have forced society to work at night serves as the film's backdrop, but it functions as atmospheric worldbuilding rather than an activist message.
Written and directed by Lisa Joy in her feature debut and awarded a ReFrame gender-equity stamp, with a substantial female co-lead in Watts, but the story itself is a conventional noir driven by a male protagonist's obsession.
A wealthy 'land baron' family and a corrupt inheritance scheme provide mild class conflict, but the film has no coherent eat-the-rich thesis.
Critics found the film pretentious and convoluted, but its ambition is narrative rather than didactic; it preaches no social sermon.
No LGBTQ+ characters or themes appear anywhere in the narrative.
The diverse cast exists naturally within the story with no engagement of racial themes or commentary.
No body-positivity themes or messaging are present.
No neurodivergent characters or themes are depicted.
The film is entirely fictional with no historical revisionism.
Why it received this score
A memory-retrieval noir set in a half-drowned Miami, Reminiscence arrives with the weary confidence of a film that has studied its elders closely and learned mostly their posture. Hugh Jackman plays Nick Bannister, a veteran who straps paying customers into a tank so they can revisit the past, and who falls for a nightclub singer named Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) shortly before she vanishes into a plot involving drug kingpins, a land baron's inheritance, and a stolen child. Lisa Joy writes and directs in her feature debut, and the ReFrame stamp for gender-balanced hiring sits on the mantle alongside the film's other, less enviable distinctions. The ensemble is notably varied, with Thandiwe Newton doing the heaviest lifting as Watts, Nick's partner and conscience, supported by Cliff Curtis, Marina de Tavira, and Daniel Wu. None of these performers are asked to announce their identities. They simply occupy the frame, which is its own quiet achievement and also, narratively, the whole of it.
The flooded cityscape deserves a mention. Rising seas have pushed Miami's workforce into the night, and Joy stages the drowned streets with real melancholy. It is worldbuilding, not sermon. A wealthy family protecting its fortune supplies a thin vein of class resentment, though the film never commits to a thesis about money, only to the mechanics of a will. What it commits to instead is atmosphere, and atmosphere it has, in the form of wet neon and long monologues about memory. Critics called it pretentious, and the word fits. The film is pretentious the way a moody undergraduate is pretentious: sincerely, at length, and without much interest in persuading anyone of anything.
This is a conventional noir wearing a sci-fi coat, and its protagonist's obsession drives every turn. Joy's camera lingers on Ferguson with the devotion of a perfume advertisement. The result is handsome, overlong, and emotionally sincere in a register that never quite lands. It preaches no social gospel. It merely remembers better films, fondly, and asks us to do the same.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Part of
Synopsis
Nicolas Bannister, a rugged and solitary veteran living in a near-future Miami flooded by rising seas, is an expert in a dangerous occupation: he offers clients the chance to relive any memory they desire. His life changes when he meets a mysterious young woman named Mae. What begins as a simple matter of lost and found becomes a passionate love affair. But when a different client's memories implicate Mae in a series of violent crimes, Bannister must delve through the dark world of the past to uncover the truth about the woman he fell for.
Questions about Reminiscence
Is Reminiscence woke?
No — Reminiscence is not especially woke, scoring 27 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Based.
Does Reminiscence have any woke elements?
3 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Representation Casting (40), Climate Crusade (35) and Feminist Agenda (30). On Representation Casting: A notably diverse ensemble including Thandiwe Newton in a major co-lead role, plus Cliff Curtis, Daniel Wu, Marina de Tavira, and Natalie Martinez, though the characters are not defined by their identities.
How does Reminiscence compare to other 2021 movies?
It ranks #71 of the 242 films from 2021 we've scored; their average is 23. The wokest is The Forever Purge (83).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.