Reminiscence | 2021 | PG-13 | – 6.5.5

Why is “Reminiscence” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong violence, drug material throughout, sexual content and some strong language. ” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes one sex scene with partial nudity, references to sex, several kissing scenes and skimpy lounge singer outfits, a few deaths by stabbing and gunshot, several scenes of people retrieving memories with some being violent and painful, a shootout in a nightclub ending with people wounded and dead with blood shown, a man set on fire, two near drownings, several fight scenes with some bloody wounds shown, discussion of rising waters and temperatures, discussions of a highly addictive drug and people taking the drug in a few scenes, and 1 possible F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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In the near future, after Miami has been mostly flooded due to climate change, people seek relief by using memory retrieval tanks that help them relive past events. An expert (Hugh Jackman) in retrieving memories becomes entangled with a mysterious woman (Rebecca Ferguson), who suddenly disappears and when he tries to find her, he discovers that some memories are more complicated than they appear. Also with Thandiwe Newton, Cliff Curtis, Daniel Wu, Mojean Aria, Marina de Tavira, Brett Cullen, Natalie Martinez, Angela Sarafyan and Javier Molina. Directed by Lisa Joy. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Mandarin, some with English subtitles or translation. [Running Time: 1:56]

Reminiscence SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A woman moves close to a man, he touches her face and they kiss passionately; the man picks the woman up and puts her on the counter where they continue to kiss, he removes his shirt (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back), she pushes him back into a chair, straddles him and we see her thrusting on top of him. A woman wearing a negligee climbs onto a bed and straddles a man lying there (we see cleavage and her bare shoulders); they then kiss. A man and woman lie in bed (their bare shoulders are visible above bed covers) and they kiss and caress each other’s faces in a few scenes. A man and a woman kiss in several scenes.
► Two men caress each other’s faces. A man kisses a woman’s bare shoulder, and they hug and snuggle in a few scenes. A man watches a woman sing and seems enamored. A woman tries to touch a man’s face and place his hands on her abdomen and he pulls away from her.
► A woman wearing a skimpy dress (we see cleavage, bare back and legs to the hips) sings in a bar/nightclub and climbs on the bar where she strikes seductive poses and writhes briefly while a man watches and asks for an introduction. A woman searches for her keys under a dresser and we see a sex aid among other items on the floor.
► A woman drops her dress while standing in front of a man and he looks away (we see her bare shoulders and upper back). A woman lies on the ground with her bare back exposed as a man caresses her; she sits up and pulls a sheet across her chest. A shirtless man climbs into a tank partially filled with water wearing boxer briefs (we see his bare chest, back and abdomen). A woman wears a deeply cut dress with cutouts on the sides and slits up both legs (we see cleavage, and her sides and legs to the upper thighs). A woman wears a deeply cut dress with a slit up one side that reveals cleavage, her bare leg to the hip and bare back to the hip. A woman wears a tank top that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders in many scenes in the movie. A woman wears a short negligee that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs. A woman wears a man’s shirt (we see her bare legs to the thighs). A man’s shirt is shown unbuttoned to reveal his bare chest and abdomen in a couple of scenes. A woman wears a strapless bra and boy short underwear that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen and legs to the hips.

Reminiscence VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A man stabs a woman in the abdomen and she whimpers, he throws her in water and her young son calls for her from a distance; another woman takes the boy, hits the man with an oar and speeds away in a boat with the boy. A man with a knife fights three other men, he stabs one man, another hits him with a crow bar and another douses him with lighter fluid and sets him on fire (the man screams and rolls on the ground in flames and we see him later with burn scars on his head and face).
► A woman enters a nightclub and shoots a man at the door (he is thrown back into the bar), shoots several other men as they shoot at her, and shoots a fish tank where a man is being held under the water and eels and water pour out onto the floor; a man is shot in the leg (we see the wound and a bit of blood), two men wrestle over a hypodermic needle and one man pounds it into the other man’s eye (below the frame), and another man is shot in the back (we see blood in his mouth and on his face); the woman tells a man that he will die by suffocation when his lungs fill with blood, he pleads with her to not let him die that way, she aims her gun at him and we hear a gunshot off-screen. Two men hold a man by the arms and push him into a large fish tank filled with eels that swim around him and onto his face; they hold him as the man squirms trying to get free.
► Two men grab a man, throw him on the ground outside a house where one points a gun at him, and shoots the ground next to him as a warning. A man hits another man in the head and body with a flashlight several times and he winces. A man raises his hand to hit a woman when another man hits him and slams him into a glass top table; another man points a gun at him and threatens to shoot him (he does not). A man in handcuffs punches two guards and tries to run while another guard draws a gun and a man elbows the handcuffed man knocking him to the floor. A woman hits a man in the back of the head presumably knocking him unconscious. A man holds a gun on another man and they argue. A man forces a woman to take a pill while holding a knife to her throat and choking her. A woman stabs a man in the chest, takes several pills and jumps off a bridge (we do not see the result but understand that she is dead).
► Two men argue, one man jumps out a window and onto a neighboring rooftop, he runs and the other chases him, they fight, one hits the other with a pipe, and one slams the other into a sign and it falls nearly crushing him; one man jumps off a roof and onto a balcony but falls short crashing into the railing and pulling himself up (we see blood on his mouth) and we see blood on a window pane where the other man had broken into an apartment, the two men fight with a knife and a hammer, they punch and kick each other, tumble down a flight of stairs and into water, they continue fighting and one man is pinned under the lid of a piano as the floor breaks out from under him and along with the piano he’s pulled underwater; the other man dives in to save the drowning man, they struggle and one man is left under the water (he does not drown). A man jabs another man in the neck with a hypodermic needle to sedate him, places him in a memory retrieval tank, forces him to show his memories, and leaves the man in a loop of a painful memory as the man thrashes. A man chases a young woman across several small boats that topple and knock people over in a dock; the young woman approaches him with a cane and swings it at him. A man grabs a woman by the arm, pushes her into a car and drives away. A young man holds a gun on a man, cocks the gun, and then turns the gun on himself but does not pull the trigger. People riot in streets over housing conditions and carry protest signs, use bats to break car and store windows, and set fires (we see buildings in flames).
► A young woman tells a man that another young woman is dead, that a man killed her and a woman took the dead woman’s young son. A man tells another man, “It’s peaceful to drown.” A man gasps when he is pulled out of a memory retrieval tank. A woman yells at a man in a few scenes. Ocean waters flow through city streets and we see buildings and a coastline underwater. A woman says that a man in a memory retrieval tank will end up with brain damage. A man talks about having been interned. We hear about levees breaking and many people being drowned. People talk about serving in a war. A man talks about his grandfather dying. A man tells a woman, “Your husband is dead.” A young man says of his mother, “She is confused.”
► People refer to floods and a war. A woman talks about her hands shaking after giving up drinking and that it affected her ability to do her job as a munitions expert. A memory retrieval tank is said to have been used initially as an interrogation tool. A man talks about a city becoming nocturnal because of the unbearable heat of the day. A man says, “She haunts me.” We are told that a man in a memory retrieval tank is dying. A woman says that a man doesn’t pay her enough to drink herself to death. A man says that he “burned” someone (destroyed his brain) on purpose.
► A man is shown in a wheelchair with his legs missing from the knees and his thighs badly scarred. Images of brain scans and monitors are shown in several scenes and wires are attached to people’s heads before they are sedated and placed in a partially water filled tank. Photos of dead bodies wrapped in cloth are shown while talking about a building having been burned with people inside. A man is shown limping in several scenes. A man has scarred skin on his head and face from being burned.

Reminiscence LANGUAGE 5

 – 1 possible F-word, 4 sexual references, 21 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 20 mild obscenities, name-calling (sweetheart, lackeys, snooping, junkie, grafter, lover boy, rats, dirty cop, confused, whore, rats of the sky, freak, bent, crooked, stupid, liar, mark, gimp, pal, delusional, empty, murderers), exclamations (relax), 6 religious profanities (GD), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, Oh My God, Thank God, Holy [scatological term deleted], God Fearing). | profanity glossary |

Reminiscence SUBSTANCE USE

 – References to drug use and the extremely addictive effects of a particular drug, a man offers a woman two capsules as payment for a session in a memory retrieval tank (she declines), and people are sedated with a hypodermic needle to the neck in several scenes. A woman talks about giving up drinking but that her hands would shake (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), a man drinks whiskey in his apartment, a woman says that a man doesn’t pay her enough to drink herself to death, people drink in several bar scenes, a woman drinks a whole bottle of liquor, and a man and a woman drink from a flask in a couple of scenes.

Reminiscence DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Linear time, the past, memories, obsession, love, sacrifice, parenting, arson, conscience, trust, ignorance, self-deception, loyalty, hope, guilt, land barons, bribery, murder, corruption, suicide, alcoholism, addiction, connections, sentiment, Orpheus and Eurydice.

Reminiscence MESSAGE

 – Some things we cannot forget even if we want to. There are no happy endings, just happy middles.