The Forgotten (2004)
Remember
Starring: Julianne Moore, Anthony Edwards, Gary Sinise, Dominic West, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache, Robert Wisdom, Jessica Hecht, Tim Kang, Christopher Koralski, Matthew Plaszewicz
Director: Joseph Ruben
Running Time: 91 minutes
US MPAA rating: PG-13UK BBFC rating: 12a
Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
Joseph Ruben's 'The Forgotten' opens with a sweeping aerial view of New York City, before zeroing in on a group of young children playing in a park, and Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) sitting alone and disconsolate on a swing. Telly is unable to let go of the memory of Sam, her nine-year old son who was killed just over two years ago in an airplane accident. That evening, during a dinner with her estranged husband Jim (Anthony Edwards), Telly is distressed to discover that Sam's image has been erased from a family photo. Telly's psychiatrist Dr Munce (Gary Sinise) tries to convince her that Sam never actually existed, but is a paramnesiac delusion which her mind invented nine years ago to shelter her from the trauma of a miscarriage.
Sure enough, all signs of Sam's existence - photo albums, a videotape, press clippings from the accident - seem suddenly to have vanished into thin air. Yet when Telly locates Ash Corell (Dominic West), who she remembers to be the father of another young victim of the accident, the pair set out to reclaim their children's reality and prove their own sanity. Constantly watched by a mysteriously impassive man (Linus Roache), and pursued by shadowy federal agents and a sympathetic police officer (Alfre Woodard), Telly and Ash uncover an earth-shattering conspiracy and cover-up that only a mad person could possibly believe.
At one point in the middle of this film, a character declares "I'm having a National Enquirer moment" - and that more or less summarises my initial response to this film, whose promising dramatic premise swiftly gives way to a dénouement so deliriously daft that it left me feeling stupefied, annoyed and not a little ripped off. Yet there is more to 'The Forgotten' than first meets the eye, and one of its neater tricks is to bombard you with so many improbable plot developments and unhinged details that its own much calmer starting point becomes part of what is soon forgotten. This is very much a film that plays one way in the cinema, and quite a different way (or ways) in your head afterwards as you try, along with Telly herself, to piece together what has happened from the most unstable and unreliable of evidence.
Consummate actress that she is, Julianne Moore manages to anchor the viewer to her character's reality even as she is hauled through the most mind-bendingly ridiculous of twists - and Gary Sinise gives a perfect performance, treading the fine line between appearing professionally solicitous and downright sinister. For my money, if I want grief and conspiracy I would rather watch Fear X, and if I want maternity and madness, I would go for Dark Water - but 'The Forgotten' has a surprising amount of subtlety to unravel if you can see beyond its brash surface - and even if you cannot, the surface is so insanely unpredictable that it will have even the stoniest viewer reeling (and possibly laughing) in shocked disbelief.
It's Got: A grieving woman, a government cover-up, a global conspiracy, and a whole lot of mad National Enquirer moments.
It Needs: It is one thing to use ambiguity to conceal an otherwise straightforward plot, but this film does it the other way round, using a straightforward (if deranged) plot to conceal a deeper ambiguity. It is anyone's guess whether this was the original, super-subtle intention, or whether it is merely a result of the Hollywood machine insisting that an interesting premise be dumbed way down - but that, I suppose, is in the nature of ambiguity.
Alternatives: Fear X, Dark Water, Vanilla Sky
Summary: Two films in one - a mad rollercoaster thriller in the cinema, and a more subtle psychodrama in your head afterwards.
Review Date: 20th November 2004
External Links
Official Web Site
The Forgotten at the IMDB
Comments7 Comments |
| Boring. I'm not an X-files fan so 90 minutes of such an issue is more than I can stand. You better wait until its release on DVD (provably very soon)and then think twice before you rent it. Julianne More deserves better scripts. |
| Comment by:- Antonio | | 29 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| wow buddy! who eva says this a boring movies gotta be cray-z!this movie is the best!!! |
| Comment by:- jessica | | 29 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| antonio u don kno wut ur talkin bout |
| Comment by:- jessica | | 29 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| Jessica, I do kno wut am talking bout. I rather prefer Tom Cruise's Vanilla Sky than this pseudo-sci-fiction-thriller with space hoovers. Even Mulder and Scully would agree with me. |
| Comment by:- Antonio | www.alioth.co.uk | 30 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| And what grounds do you heve to write this inaccurate review? This is a must see movie and was amazingly thought out witha wonderfull script to compliment it. |
| Comment by:- Chris Hainey | www.hainey.com | 13 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| com·pli·ment 1. An expression of praise, admiration, or congratulation. 2. A formal act of civility, courtesy, or respect. You mean "complement", don't you? What grounds do you heve (sic) to write incompetent English? Twat. |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 13 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| this movie should be forgotten!!!! |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 03 January 2005 | ip: logged |
