Upamanyu Biswas
The 2021 science fiction thriller, ‘Reminiscence,‘ depicts a broken world where coastal cities are flooded by rising seawater and increasing temperatures during the day have forced people to work under the cover of night. To combat their bleak circumstances, most humans relive their past through a unique device operated by war veteran Nick Bannister and his employee, Emily Sanders, also known as Watts. Bannister runs his service in the Sunken Coast of Miami, Florida, through a store known as Bannister & Associates, which is privy to the memories of those looking to indulge in nostalgia. The store becomes a pivotal setting in the narrative, showcasing how reality and imagination run concurrently in its interiors while the protagonist tries to solve a mystery with his invention!
Bannister & Associates is Not a Real Shop
The Bannister & Associates firm depicted in ‘Reminiscence’ is a fictional store conceived by Lisa Joy, the writer, producer, and debut director of the 2021 neo-noir drama. As the narrative is set in a future dystopia where the technology to bypass one’s memories is readily available, the shop plays an integral role in introducing the central science fiction conceit of how people have grown obsessed with reliving their past in hopes of ignoring their terrible present. Nick Bannister caters to diverse clients within the store’s confines. He lets them share a moment of solace through their memories before locking up that information in specially designed vaults that protect their “reminiscences” for privacy and posterity should they want to revisit those memories.
Although Bannister & Associates is a fictional store, an insurance agency with the same name can be found in Huntington Beach, California. It is a small enterprise that is aligned with the operation run by Nick Bannister. However, in his case, his store is a futuristic memory-reliving center with technology that currently does not exist. Therefore, the similarities between the firm in ‘Reminiscence’ and the real-life agency are superficial. In the film, Bannister & Associates is housed inside a former bank known as First Miami Bank & Trust. Like the store it hosts, the bank is a fictional establishment. Considering the dilapidated and decrepit nature of the dystopia presented in the story, it makes sense that services like major banks have gone out of fashion with other needs rising in priority.
‘Reminiscence’ was filmed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with some additional drone footage recorded in Miami, which was blended with visual effects to authentically recreate a futuristic dystopian version of the city. Shooting for the Bannister & Associates Firm and its host establishment, First Miami Bank, took place at the Whitney Bank building on Gravier Street. It is a historic landmark of The Big Easy and is currently shut down. After his stint in the war, Nick Bannister spends his time and effort helping people reconnect with their past as they fall into the allure of nostalgia to compensate for the miserable state of affairs surrounding them. Through the fictional Bannister & Associates, the protagonist finds a valid and profitable way to channel this sense of morbidity despite the store not existing in reality.
Read More: Reminiscence Ending, Explained
