The Forgotten
Tags: flashback, suspenseful, haunting, home movie

Plot synopsis:
Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) had a son killed in a plane crash with 10 other kids on the way to camp fourteen months previously. Telly is seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Jack Muncie (Gary Sinise). Telly spends time at a dresser every day reminiscing. Her psychiatrist suggests she has to let go. The images of her son start disappearing. Her husband, Jim Paretta (Anthony Edwards), says this is good -- that she is coming back to reality after being delusional. The psychiatrist explains her son was delusional memories manufactured after a miscarriage. He recommends she be sent to a hospital. Telly insists her son was real. Telly goes to Ash Correl's (Dominic West) apartment to convince him that her son, Sam (Christopher Kovaleski), and his daughter, Lauren, played together. Telly finds a children's painting under his office wallpaper. Ash turns her in to the police. NSA Carl Dayton (Robert Wisdom) intervenes. Ash begins to remember his daughter, and decides to help Telly escape the agents. The NSA pursues both Telly and Ash, but they escape, reunite and discuss alien abduction. The NSA pursues and loses them again. Detective Ann Pope (Alfre Woodward ) wonders why the NSA is interested in missing kids. NSA agents meet Ann. The psychiatrist proposes a partnership with Ann to catch Telly.Telly and Ash go to a country cabin and catch Al Petalis (Lee Tergesen) who indicates that the agents are merely helping "them" and it is for the protection of humankind. He mentions an experiment before the roof is ripped from the farmhouse and he disappears, presumably taken by them. Ann visits this country cabin after Telly and Ash have fled. The only evidence left behind is a note written on the window by Ash and Telly, explaining their children were abducted and pleading for help. Telly remembers that the airline her son was flying on that crashed was Quest Air. She and Ash check out Quest Air, which is closed down and being audited by an accountant appointed by the courts. They go on to the former CEO's house which is empty. Ann, still on their trail, follows them to the CEOs house. Ann sees a man at this house, and orders him to freeze. When he doesnt, she shoots him, but his bullet wounds heal within seconds. Ann then realizes Telly was telling the truth. She catches up to Telly before she flees again, and tells her she believes her and will help her find her son, when suddenly Ann gets sucked up into the sky. Ash and Telly leave together, and track down the strange man from the CEOs house. Ash attacks him, and the two struggle for a moment before Ash thrusts backward knocking both of them out the window together. Telly rushes to the window in time to see Ash get sucked up and the strange man disappear.The psychiatrist finds Telly and takes her to the airport where the strange man is waiting. Telly then realizes the psychiatrist has been in cahoots with this man -- who seems to be an alien -- all along. The psychiatrist tells her that the government monitors the aliens trials- aware that they have no power to stop 'them' from doing whatever they want to do. The psychiatrist tells the alien man to finish the experiment and the alien says its not over and walks away. Telly pursues him and demands her son back. He tells her to imagine he is there. She then sees Sam behind the alien and tries to run to him, but he runs away and disappears around a corner. Telly chases him around the corner and runs into the alien who again insists that Telly forget her son. Telly realizes at this experiment was not about the children -- it was about the parents. The alien explains that the connection between parent and child is so strong as to be almost unbreakable. Almost. Every other parent in the experiment had forgotten their children except Telly. He says Telly must forget or experiment fails. The alien begins to choke her, and tells her to remember the first moment she ever saw her son when he was born. She does, and he steals the memory from her. She falls to the ground. The alien asks her the name of the boy she is looking for, and she replies, What boy? The alien looks triumphant and begins to walk away. Telly sits up and thinks about being pregnant, which causes her to remember again. She then, once again, demands the alien return her son Sam to her. The alien panics for a moment and says he needs more time for the experiment before being sucked into the sky. Telly runs home and finds Sam in a nearby park. Telly meets Ash, again, in the park, where each of them are watching their children. Everything is back to normal.

Review: Instead of going into a detailed review of this movie, I would just like to point out that the DVD of The Forgotten offers the possibility to view the Theatrical Release or the Extended Version which contains an alternate ending.
Poor thing hurt her hand on my bicep though.Comparisons to The X-Files and The Twilight Zone are accurate, but don't listen to the movie snobs claiming it feels like a "mediocre" episode of one of the two.
It's simply gonna keep you guessing and entertained.THE GIST The Forgotten is a solid thriller that delivers a good mystery and some of the best jump scenes I've seen in a while.
It's almost like the writer felt he had written himself into a corner and that just making the 'bad guys' turn out to be aliens would take care of any loose ends.
Screenwriter Gerald Di Pego comes up with an interesting new slant on a well-trodden movie idea: grieving woman is obsessed with the child she lost to a plane crash, and refuses to accept it when her husband, neighbor, and psychiatrist all tell her he never existed.
Conspiracy thriller with science-fiction overtures steps a little bit into "Close Encounters" territory, but manages to hold the viewer with strong individual scenes and a lovely, matter-of-fact lead performance by Julianne Moore.
This is one of those movies that assumes all audiences are just complete morons, devoid of any kind of common sense and have IQ level of below 50 right from the start.It's like a movie where the main character has amnesia, and throughout the whole movie he's trying to figure out who he is, and why he is being chased by thousands of secret polices from all over the world, but does not realize until the very end of the movie that all he has to do is look into his driver's license in his pocket.The basis of this movie is that even the parents can't remember that their own kid ever existed because their memories have been wiped out selectively.
I'm not one for science fiction, but i can handle at least some movies of this genre that have good story lines, but this was a waste of money, I'm talking about the $5.00 i payed to hire it and the production funding!.
There is too an annoying noise when aliens are near or influencing the scene that sounds like worms and termites fighting inside a decomposing body.I personally strongly wish the aliens come, abduct me and erase this movie from my mind, make me forget I watched it, and thus it become a forgotten movie in my life..
It insults the intelligence of the audience and leads nowhere in the story.The whole plot line about alcoholism {if you can call it that} is just a device to give the Moore character something other to say aside from "Don't you remember my son?"; "Where is my son?"; "We have to find my son.", etc.Don't write sub-plots that overshadow your main story: Don't spend half-an-hour having the Police and NSA chase your main characters around for nothing and then spend 5 minutes at the end trying to work in an alien-experimentation angle that has nothing to do with the rest of the story.
This isn't suspenseful, it's annoying and fragmented {in retrospect, the scene between Alfre Woodard and the NSA agent add nothing to the plot or the main characters - they just eat up film, pushing the length of the movie closer and closer to the required length of a feature film}.
I felt like I was watching a connect-the-dots that followed no order and the performers just went where ever they wanted instead of going from point A to point B.I think I have gone a bit sidetracked here, but when I think of this film, I just cannot put everything together.
Forgotten that is.It starts out with an interesting premise, but, halfway through the movie it become ludicrous and unbelievable.Julianne Moore does a great job with a terrible script, and Dominic West isn't bad either.Has some scary moments which are well done, but all in all it's not worth your time or money.
So the aliens aren't that bright, but the other thing I didn't like about this movie was that half way through the main character comes up with the idea that its aliens doing it.
At several moments in the film, there was an escalation of events that raised the stakes and made things more interesting and disturbing.However, this thriller succeeds in part because it's grounded emotionally by Julianne Moore's intense performance.
The film talks about a mother named Telly(Julianne Moore),she's to the edge of breakdown but is affected by the loss her nine years old son.She's advised by her psychiatrist(Gary Sinese) and her husband(Anthony Edwards) and known people say her that her memories are falsified but her son was born dead .She finds another grieving father(Dominic West) with wrong thoughts and also broken for death his daughter who is having the same experience and he teams up with her.Both join forces to resolve the strange enigma.They are chased by the NSA(national Security Agency)agents,police official(Alfre Woodward)and weirdo men(Linus Roache).Mysterious events are happening when the strange forces seem to be attempting the recollections about the children and their death for a plane crash to be forgotten.The picture displays tension,mystery,thriller,fantasy and some pursuits.
Although the film is entertaining and intriguing the final conclusion is a little ¨dejavu¨and the plot has holes such as a Swiss cheese but thanks to the suspense and a magnificent casting it manages to be at least an enjoyable mystery movie.The message film can to be that the faith moves mountains.The picture contains an excellent special effects when the fantastic forces intervene, courtesy of Digital Backlot Studio (which also made Master and Commander,Sky Captain and world of tomorrow and Fast and Furious 2).Colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Anastas Nichos.Suspenseful and sensational music by the master James Horner.The motion picture is finely directed by Joseph Ruben(Money train,The good son,Stepfather,Dream scape).
just another title to add to the writers dazzling collection of bad moviesThis movie started out as a interesting film, it even had a twist that was far underplayed as its moronic "truth" was overdone and under developed.
Had 'The Forgotten' stayed on that track with one of the best actresses in Hollywood leading the way, I'd probably be saying nice things about the movie.
One of Moore's better films, The Forgotten is one of those movies where you find yourself on the edge of your seat.
All the negative criticism was unwarranted, and I feel the entire package was put together rather nicely.Often times you'll see a movie with similar rating and easily notice poor editing, or substantial holes in the plot, even performances by those who were waiting for their next major role.
In a sense, the true story here is a lot like ' It's A Wonderful Life '- do what is right, and let the chips fall where they may.Julianne Moore delivers a thoughtful performance as a woman who refuses to believe that she is delusional, giving the character subtle aspects, that, I feel, only a parent could deliver.
Alfre Woodard, Gary Sinise and Anthony Edwards were at their usual high standards.The only other film I've seen by Joseph Ruben was 'Dreamscape', which, while on of my favorites, is not in this class.I recommend that you watch the extended version of the film, rather than the theatrical release, because I found the story made more sense, and a more profound impact.You'll be thinking about this movie for days after seeing it..
All you really need to know is it stars Julianne Moore, and several others whose names I don't care to mention, either because they do not exist, or I just can't remember them.Kind of makes sense given the title, no?
This was a film that I had looked forward to seeing for some time and I have to say I was not disappointed.Excellent performance from the delectable Ms Moore and a good support cast.The story hinges on whether or not you believe that Sam (the son alleged killed in an air crash) ever existed.
By this time most everyone knows the basic story of this film: Julianne Moore's character obsessively mourns the loss of her young son, but was there ever a son at all?
As one can guess for a movie like this, it was full of plot holes.A poor example even for the old 'switcheroo' genre a la sixth sense, the others, etc.Dull to the very end.OK, fine, there were a couple of neat things to SEE, but that's it..
This is a suspenseful movie starring Julianne Moore as grieving mother Telly Paretta, who is struggling to cope with the loss of her 9 year-old son, Sam. When psychiatrist Dr. Jack Munce (Gary Sinise) and her husband, Jim Paretta (Anthony Edwards), tell her that she has made up the memories of a son she never had, she embarks on a mission to prove her sanity and that her son is real.The plot to the movie is cleverly devised, carefully delving into the mind of Telly, sending the audience to question her sanity, and telling of the probable cause other than insanity that mysterious out-of-this-world forces are causing her to forget her son, giving the audience the impression that there is more hidden suspense to be released.
The lazy-day feel and sometimes dreary-looking atmosphere create an overall somber and serious mood of the entire film.I thought Gerald Di Pego's script for the movie is played out well, thanks to the descent acting, compelling plot and Joseph Ruben's direction.
'The Forgotten' is a film that I quite enjoyed right until the ending, which didn't deliver what the rest of the film had been building up to.The film centres on Telly Paretta, a grief-stricken mother struggling to come to terms with the loss of her eight-year-old son who died in a plane crash carrying him and his classmates on a school trip.
Together, they determine to seek out their children and discover the truth.Julianne Moore is very effective as in the role of Telly, depicting a woman who fiercely loves her son and will not give up on him even if her sanity and life are threatened.
The acting, direction, cinematography, story, and music are all excellent, I am surprised at the low rating on IMDb.I saw it at the movie theater, and have now seen it at home, and I was very impressed with it both times that I saw it.
In "The Forgotten," Julianne Moore plays a grieving mother whose young son was killed in a plane crash less than a year before.
As they dig for proof they find so much more than they ever suspected they would.From the trailer for this movie things looked good (apart from ruining the most impacting moment of the film) and I decided to give it a go.
The support cast is cluttered with names, which I assume was meant to be a load of red herrings; most of them are OK but have very little time although a cast including Edwards, Roache, Sinise, Woodard and a few others is probably worth a look.Overall this is an OK film but not as good as the basic plot summary suggests.
The movie boils down to Juliane Moore and her forgettable sidekick always on the run, being chased by who knows what for remembering their children, which everyone else seems to have forgotten.
The second problem is Joseph Ruben's direction, who's managed to make Julianne Moore act like a b-movie starlett.
In the end, "The Forgotten" is often unintentionnally laughable, ridiculous, and frankly, one wishes the director could disappear in the sky (just like many characters in the movie do) and be replaced by Hideo Nakata instead..
Or a much better movie about alien experimentation, like say "Dark City", which is a very similar story but with more action and atmosphere, among other things which "The Forgotten" lacked.
To begin with, when I was watching the screen on the theater (or cinema), I first thought that would be a usual great Hollywood commercial movie with many specials effects but which does not have a story.Nevertheless,10 minutes after the film started, I've been very surprised in the GOOD WAY because from those ten minutes to the end of it, I was completely fooled and the GREAT suspense is very well done.
As for Dominic West, he played as well a very good role as a daddy with his daughter.The last thing I would like to say is that in this movie we can see what does the word "Th forgotten" means.
Only those who have never read any science-fiction or are unaware of TV's "The Outer Limits," "The Twilight Zone" or "The X-Files" would be surprised by the film's hokey "twist."What Di Pego and director Joseph Ruben do is turn "The Forgotten" into a chase movie.
A great cast - Moore, Woodard, Anthony Edwards, Gary Sinise and Linus Roache - is wasted, an exciting premise made mundane.The film concludes on an absurd note that makes absolutely no sense.
Both of these superior ideas are left in the dust for the X-Files or Men In Black style ending involving aliens and their superhuman abilities.Julianne Moore says that she reads every script that comes to her.
Julianne Moore, better known for her brilliant performances in more independent fare like The Shipping News and Far From Heaven, gives tremendous emotion to the character of Telly Paretta, a woman who will do anything just to have her son back in her life.
There will be those out there who want others to believe that this film is a wonderful send up to the classic B-movie science-fiction thrillers of the 1950s but, as illogical as those films were, they never contained plot holes as gigantic as the ones that occupy The Forgotten's premise.
However, a movie like this is only as good as its ending.
"The Forgotten"'s ending is at the same time inevitable and surprising -- inevitable in that the movie drops hints throughout about what might be happening to this woman, and surprising that they would actually follow through with something so ridiculous..
At one point the writer talks about a great expositional scene and how he likes the way it makes the audience understand an aspect of the character, the director sounds surprised and says he wishes he had known that at the time, to which the writer responds "Yeah, maybe you'd have left some of it in".
You make a movie like The Forgotten.It starts off well enough, as a grieving mother discovers no one believes she had a son.
Obviously there is no rule in film making that you need quirky characters, or moments of quiet in which the lead characters say interesting, insightful things, but if you're going to make a movie with a really stupid story it's a good idea to balance that out with a little flair.Basically watchable, if you're not in a demanding mood, but so bland that in a month I won't even remember why I didn't like this movie, or even that it exists..
However, her abilities start to fall apart at about the same time as the movie does.This film begins to build a dynamic story very early on.
Otherwise, this is an easily forgotten movie.The film starts off with a great premise: A woman mourns the death of her son through emotional rituals lasting over a year.
Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is having trouble dealing with the death of her eight-year-old son Sam. She's seeing a therapist, Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise), but both the doctor and Telly's husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) believe she's completely delusional, and they insist Sam never existed.But Telly happens to run into another parent whose child died in the plane crash that claimed Sam - Ash, the hunky ex-hockey player (Dominic West).
If you just want to be a brain-dead action movie, then the plot part won't matter - but you should have a simplistic storyline, not a complicated one.The Forgotten should be interesting to conspiracy enthusiasts, since it ties together a couple popular ones to the theme of a mother losing her child.
First off, I saw the extended version, so I don't know what the original ending is or what extra scenes I saw.The Forgotten was a movie about how a woman lost her son in a plane crash, but apparently it never happened.
To make a movie great, you can't take something like a forgotten son (and of course forgotten daughter) and turn it into an alien project, because that defeats the purpose.
The movie is about a mother (Julianne Moore) that has a hard time moving on after her son's death..
The film had a lot of potential due to Julianne Moore in the lead and what seemed to be a thriller with a twist type of movie.
I like horror movies, and I thought that a freaky plot with someone's children being 'forgotten' by everyone except for the main character would be really cool.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that The Forgotten had the potential to be a really good movie, but the writers/ directors just changed their minds about it..
Julianne Moore does a great job looking as though she is at wit's end, forgetting the most everyday things like where she parked her car, and whether or not she just finished drinking a cup of coffee.As soon as it begins to reveal the "terrifying" truth, however, "The Forgotten" becomes embarrassingly ridiculous.
"The Forgotten" may be a movie to watch when you tend to catnap through films..
Isn't it plainly stupid to chase Julianne Moore the entire movie when they know all the time exactly where she is and they can vacuum her when they feel like it?
I think my wife summed it up best when she said "the ending didn't fit the movie whatsoever, but I liked it anyway because it made me feel good".