The Forgotten Reviews

It might sound weird but before watching a movie, I don't read what it's about. When you do read the story, sometimes you loose the first 30 minutes because you already know what is going to happen. I'd rather discover the events together with the characters and I think it is a much more rewarding watching experience. So, before watching this flick, I didn't have a clue what it was about and the beginning was quite fascinating. Indeed, did Julianne Moore's character really have a kid or is she just really crazy ? So, I thought it could be a deep and fascinating character study going all psychological but, unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Within 20 minutes, it is revealed that her son has been adducted by Aliens and the rest of the movie is just a succession of endless and boring action scenes... I thought it was so frustrating... I mean, they have a perfectly fine premise (a woman who desperatly wants a child, gets a miscarriage and makes him up) but, instead, they completely ruined it. Julianne Moore shouldn't be blamed, she does her best with the character but she won't be remembered for this movie, that's for sure. To conclude, it is a really average thriller and it is not really worth a look.

النسيان (دراما، خيال علمي، لغز) (الولايات المتحدة:2004) (5:2,5)



الملخص: ألام الحزينة (دولا تيلي/ جوليان مور) التي تعاني العديد من المشاكل، حيث يتبدل مجرى حياتها عندما يخبرها الطبيب النفسي المعالج إن ابنها المتوفى والبالغ من العمر8 سنوات، ليس سوى وليد خيالها، وبأنها اخترعت هذا الطفل وعاشت مع ذكرياته الوهمية مدة السنوات الثماني الفائتة، فتحاول إثبات العكس وبان الطفل كان حقيقيا، في الوقت الذي تلتقي بشخص يعاني العوارض النفسية ذاتها، إذ فقد أحد أبنائه، ولهذا يتحد الاثنان للخوض في أسرار ذلك الغياب المثير، ومن يقف وراءه.



النقد: اخرج الفيلم (جوزيف روبن) مقدم سابقا (العودة إلى الجنة: 1998) استنادا إلى سيناريو مؤثر كتبه (جيرالد ديبياجو) يستخدم الحوار الفعال آلية لدفع قصته قدما، ويفلح في بلورة شخصياته التي تعاني عقدا نفسية مبكرا، والتي تتمتع بحضور طاغ وقدر كاف من العمق الدرامي لشد اهتمام المتفرج طيلة زمن عرض الفيلم، لكن يعاب على مخرج الفيلم التزامه الجدية المطلقة دون جرعة من الانعتاق نحو شحنة عاطفية أو كوميدية، وميله عموما لإظهار الفيلم بمظهر منمق، لماع تماشيا مع ما درجت عليه هوليود عند إنتاج الأفلام ذات الميزانيات الضخمة، وكثيرا ما تطغى هذه اللمسات المبالغ فيها على الجوهر الحقيقي للفيلم وشخصياته.

It's been 14 months since Telly Paretta's son died in a plane crash. As she struggles to cope her psychiatrist tells her that she doesn't have a son, the memories she has are all made up. Telly's refusal to believe that her child is simply a figment of her imagination leads her to discover the truth about what happened 14 months ago.

The premise of The Forgotten is a good one - just what is reality? Can memories be manufactured? are just some of the questions the film tries to answer. Julianne Moore does a remarkable job portraying Telly's pain and anger at finding out her memories of her son are being stolen. She finds an ally in Ash (Dominic West), a father who denies the existence of his daughter but slowly comes to realize that he was made to forget.

I was really enjoying this psychological thriller - it had good pacing, good acting, the suspense was palpable and there were some great chase scenes - until the final reveal. After that plausibility is replaced with ridiculousness and when the reason why the memories were being erased was revealed I almost spit out the drink I was having from the shock that the writer of this movie expected his audience to be so dumb. Just plain lazy writing that totally destroys any enjoyment from the earlier part of the movie.