★★☆☆☆ Forget Me Not (2010) could never be called original – a couple meet in an urban environment, have a wild night together and miraculously they fall for each other in a whirlwind romance has been done before (and a lot better than this, but not much) in films such as Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). It doesn’t help a film if you start on a clichéd premise and sadly this film just gets worse. The film’s basic plot is simple; Will Fletcher, played by Tobias Menzies meets bohemian-minded-barmaid Eve (Genevieve O’Reilly). Over the course of 24 hours, they travel through central London and as secrets are revealed.
Menzies and O’Reilly struggle with creating a real sense of emotion on screen and, although Menzies gives a reasonably strong performance, he is never quite convincing enough, especially in moments of revelation. There are further problems that are not the actors’ fault, but rather the writers’: Rebecca Long, Steve Spence and Mark Underwood. They fail to create intriguing characters with a credible enough back-story and the predictable plot means you’re always one step ahead, and clock watching throughout. All of which is reflected in the poor quality of the script. This is not to say that the actors get off lightly: O’Reilly comes across as too upper-class for her precarious situation.
The saving grace of this film is its cinematography; the shots of famous London landmarks are a feast for the eyes. A particularly memorable moment is the South Bank at dawn, which looks stunning. Although, this too disappoints because the film comes across more as a tourist advert for London for hipsters wanting to move to the capital. The cinematography, however, provides some much needed relief and at best gives simplistic and clean beauty to the film – particularly towards the close of the film in a long shot where water is running down a glass panel or earlier during a silent disco. Forget Me Not is overly simplistic, corny and a cheap attempt to appeal to young, modern Londoners, which actually showed itself up as being completely out of touch with reality.
Joe Walsh
