You won't forget this one!

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2012)

I'm quite convinced that Christopher Nolan is not a man at all, but is in fact a movie-making machine. I don't believe that it's humanly possible to make films that are just so insanely clever as "Inception" or "Memento". Christopher Nolan even manages to make Batman seem clever, and you know how that originally started out. I saw "Memento" for the second time yesterday and its incredibly complex writing blew me away if not more so that the first time. I was awe-struck the first time that I watched "Memento", not only at the screenplay, but at the directing and acting also.
If a film like "Memento" had been placed in the hands of any other director then it very easily could've turned into a confused and boring mess. Like, "Inception" Christopher Nolan deals with complex ideas that are very rarely seen in the movie world, but he handles them with such careful control and sophistication that they end up being some of the most mind-blowing films ever! Watching "Memento" with my parents was an experience in itself. To understand "Memento" you need a mind that is prepared to not just watch a film, but to be a part of it. Because "Memento" is placed in a backward order, you need to figure out and remember what's happened before a scene and try and piece the mystery together yourself.
In hindsight this might seem like just a gimmick. But, "Memento" couldn't be told any other way, as it leaves you being confused as much as Leonard. It places you in Leonard's mind so that you don't know what's happened, like Leonard doesn't know. However, to follow the mystery we have to go back to see what has happened and Christopher Nolan uses this to his advantage and is able to create an extremely clever and complex mystery with an ending to die for. However, my parents failed to realise this. They were asking questions like "why's he still alive, he was shot a minute ago!" They just didn't get the idea of telling the story backward and the ending just left their mind in a graveyard! Luckily I didn't watch it with them the first time, so the second time was more amusing.
Christopher Nolan's directing is also just as brilliant. He manages to place us into the mind of Leonard through excellent uses of narration and also completely gripping black and white sequence which is like a short film in itself. Guy Pearce is also brilliant at playing Leonard, it makes you wonder if he's got the same condition as Leonard! (He doesn't, just for the record.) Chrstopher often places us in the eyes of Leonard and so we suffer the same problems as him. "Memento" is like an experience that leaves you mentally exhausted.
"Memento" is one of the best films I have ever seen and is probably in my Top 10 list of the best films I have seen. It's beautifully written and directed and had me completely engrossed from the minute it started. It's also an excellent character piece, with people we can care about. It's thrilling, enthralling and involving. "Memento" is the perfect thriller, told in such a way that it's difficult to forget. If you have a fantastic attention span and are prepared to really concentrate in your films then you won't be disappointed with "Memento".