Shadows on the Wall | Reminders of Him

Reminders of Him

dir Vanessa Caswill
scr Lauren Levine, Colleen Hoover
prd Colleen Hoover, Lauren Levine, Gina Matthews
with Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford, Lainey Wilson, Zoe Kosovic, Jennifer Robertson, Nicholas Duvernay, Monika Myers, Hilary Jardine, Skye MacDonald
release US/UK 13.Mar.26
26/US Universal 1h54

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With big emotions, this romantic drama deliberately pushes every sentimental button as it depicts a simple, moving story about broken people trying to find their way through a difficult situation. It's almost absurdly straightforward, but it's very watchable thanks to the beautiful cast and glorious landscapes. Even if pretty much everything about this movie feels generic, genre fans (and everyone else) will swoon and weep right on cue.

Seeking redemption, Kenna (Monroe) returns home after a seven-year prison sentence for the car crash that killed her boyfriend Scotty (Pankow in flashbacks). Behind bars, she gave birth to a daughter (Kosovic) who's been raised by Scotty's parents Grace (Graham) and Patrick (Whitford), with the involvement of Scotty's best pal Ledger (Withers). They're still angry with Kenna over what happened, but the hunky Ledger is the first to soften, offering her a job in his bar. The challenge is hiding their burgeoning relationship from Grace and Patrick so that Kenna can finally meet her daughter.

Aside from the deeply held feelings and gorgeous mountain scenery, not much about this movie is plausible. Kenna wears extremely brief cutoff jeans even for important first impressions, a constant reminder from the costume designer that she's some sort of fallen woman. Meanwhile, the script works overtime to reveal her heart of gold, as well as the truth about that fateful night. So everyone in the movie is good, really, even if they have very bad reactions from time to time. We never doubt where this is headed.

At the centre, Monroe has a feisty presence as Kenna, more yearning than tenacious, broken by both her grief and her incarceration. She of course resists any contact with Ledger at first, and vice versa, but the chemistry between Monroe and Withers' charismatic dreamboat allows for no questions. Graham and Whitford get to play a few broader strokes of pain and rage, and both are such superb actors that we believe their quick turnarounds.

This isn't a movie that leaves us with anything to think about. Moral issues are only lightly dealt with before everything works out. And even the darkest feelings seem to evaporate simply because the script says it's time for them to go. But it's slickly assembled to push all of the audience's buttons, especially with a screen full of sexy people in sexy locations. Essentially it's little more than emotional porn, but perhaps we need a bit of that now and then.

themes, language, violence 11.Mar.26

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