Movie Type: Supernatural Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Themes: Mind Games, Evil Aliens
Main Cast: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A grieving woman must make a journey into her past in this psychological thriller. Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is a mother who is struggling to put her life back together after the unexpected death of her eight-year-old son. Telly begins seeing a therapist (Gary Sinise) who offers a startling diagnosis -- that her son never really existed, and all her memories of the child are products of her imagination. When Telly meets a man with a strangely similar story to tell about his lost child (Dominic West), she becomes convinced that her doctor is wrong, and sets out to prove the existence of her child -- and that she isn't insane. The Forgotten also features Alfre Woodard and Anthony Edwards. An alternate ending exists to this film, which has been released on DVD and purportedly does a great deal to compensate for the story's weaknesses. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The Forgotten is a film that will no doubt be forgotten in time, though that doesn't mean that it is void of any merit. Sure, the script isn't the shiniest rock in the bucket, and the initial setup of Julianne Moore continually flipping out is just not handled well at all, on her side or the director's -- that said, the movie still has a few wow moments that might just be worth a viewing with a big bowl of popcorn. If you've seen the trailer, then you know just what kind of scenes are being referred to here. Thankfully, the movie still has a few more up its sleeve that you will not expect or be prepared for. Sadly, the supporting "name" actors are severely underused, and the movie ends with a handbag full of questions unanswered. With all of that, plus an ending that seems a little too forced in comparison to the rest of the film, The Forgotten will still live on for the moments where it does shine. It's not perfect, nor too exceptional outside of its few good scares, but sometimes that's all you need. Don't go in expecting much and you'll be pleasantly surprised at what spooks you may get out of it. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Robert Wisdom - Carl Dayton; Jessica Hecht - Eliot; Anthony Edwards - Jim
Credit
Paul D. Kelly - Art Director, Sony Pictures Imageworks - Animator, Margery Simkin - Casting, Cindy Evans - Costume Designer, Michael Steele - First Assistant Director, Joseph Ruben - Director, Terry J. Leonard - Second Unit Director, Richard Francis-Bruce - Editor, Steve Nicolaides - Executive Producer, Gerald Di Pego - Executive Producer, Todd Garner - Executive Producer, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), Bill Groom - Production Designer, Anastas Michos - Cinematographer, Bruce Cohen - Producer, Joe Roth - Producer, Dan Jinks - Producer, Dane A. Davis - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Barosky - Sound/Sound Designer, Gerald Di Pego - Screenwriter, Carey Grant Villegas - Visual Effects Supervisor, Dane A. Davis - Supervising Sound Editor, Sony Pictures Imageworks - Visual Effects, Susan Bode-Tyson - Set Decorator
The movie revolves around a woman who thinks that she lost her son in an airline crash 14 months ago, only to wake up one morning and be told that she never had a son. All of her memories are intact but with no physical evidence that contradicts the claims of her husband and psychiatrist, she sets out in search for solid evidence of her son's existence.
Telly Paretta believes that her son Sam died fourteen months previously but her husband Jim tells her that she is delusional. Doctor Munce tells her that she is delusional and imagining a life that never happened after a miscarriage; he recommends that she be sent to a hospital. At this she runs away and meets with a man (Ash) whom she thinks is the father of one of her son's friends. At first he dismisses her and calls the police, but as she is taken away by the police he also remembers his daughter and rescues Telly; together they escape and go into hiding, pursued by agents.
Telly and Ash capture and torture an agent, who reveals that the agents are merely helping "them" and it is for the protection of humankind. The roof of the house then blows off and the agent is abducted, presumably taken by "them", and the two flee. Eventually, she visits Dr. Munce again- and he reveals to her that the occurring disappearances are the work of 'them', and that the government monitors their trials- aware that they have no power to stop 'them' from doing whatever they want to do.
Eventually Telly hunts down one of "them" at an abandoned airport and he tells her that she has been a part of an experiment into whether the bonds between mother and child can be broken. Telly refuses to deny her son's existence. She is choked and ordered to give up her first memory of her son; the first time she saw him as a newborn. But she recalls her pregnancy and the being who has been experimenting on her is 'blown away'. She then finds herself living her normal life with her son again, though she remembers everything that has happened. She reunites with Sam at a park. Also at the park, is Ash, watching over his daughter. Like Sam, he has no memory of what has happened. Telly "re"introduces herself and the two sit and watch the kids play in the playground.
Critics gave the film generally negative to mixed reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 166 reviews.[1] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 34 reviews.[2]
Box office performance
The film opened September 24, 2004 in the United States and Canada and grossed $21 million in 3,104 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office.[3]
The film cost $42 million to produce and it eventually grossed $67.1 million in the U.S. and Canada and $50.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $117.5 million.[4]
