Review of The Forgotten (2004) by Kai82 — 07 Sep 2021

A masterpiece with a flaw that can ruin the experience. On one hand this is a fresh idea, has an intense, immersive and emotional story and a good cast of actors that enhance it. On the other hand it gets weaker towards the end and the twist or reveal ruined this experience for many.

It is one of these great stories that are awesome but they can not finish it properly. Even I who enjoyed it a lot and did not mind the twist that much will admit that it took me out of the immersion and decreased my rating.

Think of it like an M Night Shyamalan movie were a lot depends on the twist. The movie itself has elements from a psychological thriller, horror movie and another genre I cant spoil. The story follows Telly Paretta who grieves about the loss of her son Sam who died 14 months ago in a plane crash.

She still suffers and cant go on with her life. When she returns from work she finds Sam’s room redecorated and immediately (verbally) attacks her husband for this insensitivity. However her husband tells her they never had a son and it was all in her imagination.

Strangely this seems to be correct for others too and she goes on the journey to find answers to this. Like I said it starts really strong. The suspense and atmosphere are amazing. It creates an immersion many other movies fail to archive.

Sadly they lost momentum towards the end and the twist or reveal harms the overall experience. For me not that much to be fair but others hated that with passion. To be fair again while I have some ideas to improve the story with better twists I am not sure that it would work any better.

So lets say it is good but has weaknesses too. Now lets continue with the actors. Telly Paretta is played by Julianne Moore who is an amazing actress. She fully delivers the full range of the role and I praise her for this good performance.

Dominic West as Ash also delivers a good performance and has good chemistry with Julianne Moore. The rest of the cast is an addition and I don't mean this negatively. They enhance the story and are the vehicle for the main characters journey and character development.

So in this regard I see no weaknesses or missteps. Visually they do a lot to deliver the atmosphere. Because this is done in a sneaky and intuitive way I did not recognize it until the later half of the movie.

The soundtrack enhances this too. Overall I repeat my opening statement. This is a masterpiece with one potential weakness that can ruin the experience. Still I considered it a good experience, a fresh idea and something worth to discuss with friends.

Would recommend to watch it but the warning is fair.