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The Forgotten (2004 film)

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The Forgotten
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoseph Ruben
Written byGerald Di Pego
Produced byBruce Cohen
Dan Jinks
Joe Roth
StarringJulianne Moore
Dominic West
Gary Sinise
Anthony Edwards
Lee Tergesen
Alfre Woodard
Linus Roache
Jessica Hecht
CinematographyAnastas N. Michos
Edited byRichard Francis-Bruce
Music byJames Horner
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • September 24, 2004 (2004-09-24)
Running time
91 minutes
94 minutes (Unrated cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$42 million[1]
Box office$117,592,831[2]

The Forgotten is a 2004 American science fiction psychological thriller drama film, directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julianne Moore and Dominic West.

The film's plot revolves around a woman who thinks that she lost her son in a plane 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.

It was produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures and was released in the United States and Canada on September 24, 2004.

Plot

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) believes that her son, Sam (Christopher Kovaleski), died fourteen months ago in a plane crash, but her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) tells her that she's delusional and that they have never had a son, and Eliot (Jessica Hecht) doesn't appear to believe in Sam's existence despite her closeness to him. Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise) tells her that Sam was merely a figment of her imagination and is just imagining a life that might have been. He recommends that she be sent to a hospital, but she runs away and meets with a man named Ash (Dominic West) who she thinks is the father of a girl (Kathryn Faughnan) who was friends with her son and died in the same crash. At first he dismisses her, claiming he never had a daughter, and calls the police. After she is taken into custody, however, he remembers his daughter and rescues Telly. Together they escape and go into hiding, pursued by National Security agents.

Telly and Ash capture an agent (Lee Tergesen), whom they threaten. The agent reluctantly reveals that he and other agents are merely helping ″them″ and that they do so to protect humankind. Without warning, the roof of the house blows off and the agent, along with the roof, is sucked into the sky—presumably taken by ″them″—and Telly and Ash flee. Eventually, Telly visits Dr. Munce again and he reveals that the disappearances are the work of ″them,″ and that the government monitors their trials, all too aware that they have no power to stop ″them″ from doing whatever they want.

Munce takes Telly to an airport and the dilapidated hangar of Quest Airlines, where he introduces her to an agent of ″them″ (Linus Roache). He tells the agent that it's over and to stop the experiment, because it will only cause more harm. But, the agent replies that it's not over. He reveals to Telly that she has been a part of an experiment to test whether the bonds between mother and child can be diminished. In her case, her memories could not be fully erased. Telly refuses to deny her son's existence. The agent mentions that if he fails to erase her memory then he will look like a failure. The agent then subdues her and convinces her to think of the first memory she had of Sam. Telly thinks of the day he was born in the hospital, which allows the agent to successfully erase Sam's memory from existence. As the agent is walking away, thinking he's succeeded, Telly's motherly bond kicks in deeper, to before Sam was born, when she was pregnant, triggering her memory that she indeed had life in her at one time. All of her memories of Sam return. Before the agent can comprehend what's happening, part of the hangar roof is suddenly blown off, and he's yanked into the sky himself, supposedly for his failure to erase her memory. This ends the experiment.

Telly finds herself living a normal life, although 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 reintroduces herself, and the two sit and watch the kids play in the playground.

Alternative version

When the film was aired on basic cable the accident was changed, with all mentions of "plane" and "airport" dubbed to "bus" and "terminal".[3]

Cast

Production

Filming

Principal photography mostly took place in New York City.

Release

The film was released theatrically on September 24, 2004.

Home Media

The film was released on DVD on January 18, 2005. A Blu-ray version has yet to be released.

Reception

Critical reception

Critics gave the film generally negative reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 171 reviews with the consensus, stating, "The premise grows too ridiculous to take seriously".[4] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 34 reviews.[5] Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out 4 stating, "The Forgotten is not a good movie, but at least it supplies a credible victim."

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 [6]

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.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Forgotten (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  2. ^ "The Forgotten (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  3. ^ "Alternate versions for The Forgotten (2004)". IMDb. January 2009.
  4. ^ "The Forgotten - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
  5. ^ "Forgotten, The (2004): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
  6. ^ "The Forgotten (2004) - Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
  7. ^ "The Forgotten (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
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