You really will end up thinking "Now, where was I?"

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2001)

Like the best of films with some kind of twisting and demanding plot, "Memento" not only warrants second, third and more viewings but actively encourages them. Like "The Usual Suspects" you get to the end and think you have found the answer to what happened, what you have just spent two hours watching, but the more you analyse it the less certain you are. You really will end up thinking "Now, where was I?" Characters' moral ambiguity become clearer with each viewing so that you can end up convinced that everyone in the world is totally messed up and utterly lacking a morality of any real kind.
But it is worth more than one viewing (if you didn't get it the first time, I ain't saying the second will make it all clear, but you should invest the time) if only for the acting performances. Pearce makes another great screen character come to life off the script (see "LA Confidential" and "Priscilla" for others), Joe Pantoliano is a creature of demonlike charm, and Carrie Moss - well, what can I say. Her role as Natalie is pivotal to the audience's realisation that this movie is deliberately playing with their head.
For those who wonder where Nolan appeared from with this great sleeper hit (WHY DID THE USA TAKE SO LONG TO GIVE IT DISTRIBUTION?!!!) seek out his previous movie "Following" which offers an equally disturbing and twisting narrative. Catch it at your arthouse cinema ASAP.