The Forgotten DVD Review:

Fourteen months after the death of her son Sam in a plane crash, Telly (Moore) is still having trouble coming to terms with her loss. Her therapist Dr. Jack Munce (Sinise) doesn’t seem to be helping and her husband Jim (Edwards) isn’t doing enough to help. Things don’t get any better when she discovers that every picture and video of Sam is missing from her house. Frantic, she confronts her husband who tells her they never had a son and she has been suffering from delusions since she had a miscarriage nine years earlier. Desperate to prove that she is not losing her mind she sets out to find proof that Sam did in fact exist.

As movies with a twist become more and more common place in Hollywood, can The Forgotten’s twists and turns keep you intrigued? Yes they can.

‘The Forgotten’ takes an interesting psychological premise about the construction and recall of memories and then mixes in an element that you might not be expecting. For some this might be a bit too far fetched but due to the quality of the direction and the acting. The film is approached with great integrity and very seriously, as it could have so easily have fell into melodrama.

Key to the success of the movie is the performance of Julianne Moore. She is arguably one of the best actresses working today and always creates believable characters. As Telly, she is a determined woman who is in almost every scene in the film, driving the story. Through her you see the story unfold and it is Moore’s talent that draws you into her character’s plight. There are very few actresses that can hold your attention so intensely and is what makes The Forgotten work.

While this is a movie all about the performance of Julianne Moore, her support is also very good. Brit actor Dominic West is starting to make a name for himself States side with another memorable performance. He plays Ash Correll another parent that has mysteriously lost a child, portraying the emotion of this realisation extremely well. Anthony Edwards has a small part as Telly’s husband Jim, as he makes the transition back into movies after many a year in the ER. Gary Sinise is also good as therapist Dr. Jack Munce but he doesn’t have enough screen time. The same can be said about Linus Roache but his role is pivotal to the story.

Director Joseph Rubin knows how to get the best out of his actors and treats the story with enough respect to not let it fall in farce. With subject matter like this it could have been so easy for the director to let the story run away with itself and become too far fetched for the viewer to take seriously. While the conclusion might not be what you are expecting from the beginning, Joseph keeps his cards very close to his chest, only revealing parts of his hand when he deems it necessary until he lays down all his cards during the finale. The look of the movie is also very good. He creates a grey and black filled pallet for his New York setting that only injects radiant colour when Telly is remembering Sam in her memories. This works really well and fills the picture with a bleak foreboding of what is to come.

The Forgotten is a twisty, turny thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. With excellent performances and its own unique look, this is a movie that will get you talking and won’t be that easy to forget.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is very good, as you’d expect from a modern movie. The picture quality is first rate throughout, even during the darker, night time and climatic scenes. The sound quality is also first rate; especially during key plot points in the movie.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by Director Joseph Rubin and Writer Gerald Di Pego

This chatty and informative commentary highlights many of the secrets behind ‘The Forgotten’. The writer reveals how the idea for the movie came from a dream that expanded into a full-grown script treatment. The pair talk candidly about the twists and turns in the plot, as they strived to throw the watcher off their stride and make them not know what is coming next. They also discuss changes to the script, deleted or alternative scenes, casting and the New York location. This is a good commentary that reveals many of the secrets behind the film.

Remembering the Forgotten (19.58 mins)

Director Joseph Rubin, writer Gerald Di Pego, producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen and stars Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Linus Roache, Gary Sinise, Anthony Edwards and Alfre Woodard talk about making ‘The Forgotten’. The cast and crew talk about the plot of the film, emphasising the main plot point, the bound between mother and child. They also talk candidly about the major twists in the movie and take you behind the scenes of the special effects that created these shocks. This is a good featurette that doesn’t have usual excessive patting on the back and hyping up of the cast and crew.

One the Set: The Forgotten (14.18 mins)

Director Joseph Rubin, producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen and stars Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Anthony Edwards and Alfre Woodard talk about ‘the human element’, ‘plot’, ‘characters’, ‘Telly’, ‘casting’, ‘location’, ‘the unexplained’, ‘mystery’ and ‘the mind’. These featurette repeats many of the things cover in the previous one but does look more into the story and characters of the movie.

Deleted Scenes (12.48 mins)

Entitled ‘Alternative Ending’, ‘The Abduction’ and ‘The Kiss’ these three deleted scenes are quite good but without a commentary track we don’t know why they not used. (‘The Kiss’ does get briefly mentioned in the main commentary)

Trailers

The theatrical trailer for ‘The Forgotten’ and previews of ‘Hellboy’, ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ and ‘Frankenfish’.

OVERALL

A good commentary and a collection of featurettes that cover most aspects of the film’s production make this a decent DVD presentation. The lack of commentary on the deleted scenes is frustrating but other than that this is a good package that should please fans.

DVD Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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