2009-09-11
N/A
100 min
Set in a Tex-Mex border town, Not Forgotten is a classic psychological thriller about Jack and Amaya Bishop, a couple who must come to terms with their tortured pasts in order to save their kidnapped daughter. It is a tale taut with intrigue and steeped in Latino mysticism, where the line between what's real and what's imagined becomes hopelessly blurred.
Dealing with a death-worshipping, revenge-seeking Mexican cult
After his 11 years-old daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) goes missing near the Texas border, an American man (Simon Baker) ventures deep into the sleazy side of Mexico to find her, with many secrets revealed in the process. Paz Vega is on hand as his wife.
“Not Forgotten” (2009) is basically a mixture of “The Flock” and “Borderland,” both worthwhile films from two years earlier. While it starts well enough, the second half unfortunately bogs down into a tedious, repellent, ludicrous mess. Did I mention ludicrous? The revelations are laughable.
I’m not a big fan of Martin Sheen’s “Believers,” but it’s a masterpiece compared to this. I suppose it’s better than the shockingly bad “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” but that’s not saying much. At least there’s a certain artistry to the off-putting proceedings.
It runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in two regions: In the USA, it was filmed in Santa Fe & Las Vegas in the heart of New Mexico; in Mexico, it was shot in Mexico City and Pachuca, the latter being a 1.5 hour drive northeast of the big city.
GRADE: D+
