The Forgotten is an above average supernatural thriller with a stellar cast and a decent premise a pretty rare thing for Hollywood, unless of course it's directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
The film stars Julianne Moore as grief-stricken mother Telly mourning the loss of her only son Sam to a plane crash the year before. Suddenly, evidence of Sam's existence begins to disappear, calling her sanity into question. Both her husband (Anthony Edwards) and her therapist (Gary Sinise) try to convince her that she's deluded and never had a child but has invented the memories. Finally, Telly teams up with Ash, the alcoholic father (Dominic West) of another one of the plane crash victims, who has not quite forgotten his dead child either, and together they uncover the strange conspiracy that has rended their children from them.
Joseph Ruben's direction looks great, juxtaposing golden flashback scenes with the washed out colours of Telly's world without Sam. The film's main idea centres on the power of the mom and the parental bond, so the onus is on Julianne Moore to really hold the movie together and she does a fine job.
The film takes its time with the set-up but doesn't feel slow, rather it creates a spooky atmosphere while revealing the story piece by piece. The Forgotten gives a few good scares along the way and doesn't completely fall apart at the end the way most movies of this genre do. But the truth, when finally revealed, is far-fetched and more than a little silly. (Sony/Columbia TriStar)
The film stars Julianne Moore as grief-stricken mother Telly mourning the loss of her only son Sam to a plane crash the year before. Suddenly, evidence of Sam's existence begins to disappear, calling her sanity into question. Both her husband (Anthony Edwards) and her therapist (Gary Sinise) try to convince her that she's deluded and never had a child but has invented the memories. Finally, Telly teams up with Ash, the alcoholic father (Dominic West) of another one of the plane crash victims, who has not quite forgotten his dead child either, and together they uncover the strange conspiracy that has rended their children from them.
Joseph Ruben's direction looks great, juxtaposing golden flashback scenes with the washed out colours of Telly's world without Sam. The film's main idea centres on the power of the mom and the parental bond, so the onus is on Julianne Moore to really hold the movie together and she does a fine job.
The film takes its time with the set-up but doesn't feel slow, rather it creates a spooky atmosphere while revealing the story piece by piece. The Forgotten gives a few good scares along the way and doesn't completely fall apart at the end the way most movies of this genre do. But the truth, when finally revealed, is far-fetched and more than a little silly. (Sony/Columbia TriStar)