WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Reminiscence, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence walks a similar line to Inception, which was ironically written and directed by her brother-in-law, Christopher Nolan. In this sci-fi thriller, though, people aren’t reliving dreams; it’s memories that can be mined for secrets or simply to enjoy the past as if one was really there. With that in mind, let’s break down exactly how the tech works in this film.
What’s The Technology and Its Purpose?
The film takes place in the near-future, where rising waters submerged parts of Miami, leading to border wars. During that conflict, Reminiscence was developed and used for interrogation, accessing memories to apprehend criminals. Now, it’s been repurposed and actually feels influenced by the dream-inducers from Inception, with the headsets similar to The Matrix and people immersed in water tanks a la Mark Wahlberg’s Infinite and the precogs’ aquatic cells in Minority Report.
Hugh Jackman’s Nick runs one such hub. The person comes in, they have their mind mapped, and after their synapses are scanned using this bio-imprint, Nick has basically constructed their entire memory for browsing. He sedates the person with a yellow substance injected into their necks and uses voice guiding to lead them to their desired memories. Nick’s machine creates holograms for perusals, whereas older versions of the tech use film projectors to show the memories.
Some, like Elsa, want to relive past trysts; others, such as Mae, use the tech to find lost items such as keys, with folks even visiting dead loved ones or cryogenically freezing themselves in more advanced facilities to live out their days with warm memories. People can also leave messages so operators like Nick can find them. Nick and his assistant, Watts (Thandiwe Newton), another ex-soldier, work for the cops too, deposing people and probing minds for evidence in what’s essentially a lie detector.
What Are The Limitations?
Nick stores these recreations of the past, known as reminisces, in a vault, but he makes it clear early on there are limitations. Firstly, he uses electricity to jog one’s mind and boot it up for the nostalgic journey, but he can’t go past 30 volts. If he does, he will fry the brain and leave the person dead, comatose, or in a frenzied state where they relive the last reminisce they experienced. These reminisces also make for effective weapons, as Nick demonstrates when he uses one of the film rolls against an enemy.
Notably, questions have to avoid being too jarring, or they cause the subject’s mind to panic. Nick’s an expert on this, having once served as a wartime interrogator, so he knows how to avoid causing harm. For example, when a patient’s mind is nearly fried during a session, Nick keeps things under control by redirecting the “conversation.”
In addition, if people focus too much on a single memory, reliving it over and over, they forget about other items in the environment. Nick, however, being a voyeur of sorts, is trained to see and remember everything and advises his clients to be aware of their surroundings. Most importantly of all, the only memories Nick can access are those the client specifically recalls. If a past event didn’t leave a strong impression, they won’t show up with much in the way of detail, if at all.
Reminiscence is in theaters and on HBO Max.
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