Intricate weave of several agendas

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2005)

This film gets the 10/10 rating in my book as although I am not 100% sure I understand it fully, it is possibly that little bit of remaining intrigue that makes me love it. Maybe it's because I'm middle-aged and slow of brain that I have to watch it twice before I work out what's really going on, and a third time just to be sure, and yet a fourth time to make sure I haven't missed anything the third time. Is/was Teddy a bad guy or is/was he just trying to do his job the best way he knows how, and give Lenny a purpose too? And Natalie, is she bad or just angry? Maybe the plot really is that convoluted. In my opinion, rather.
Lennie, in his own quest for revenge with his inability to make new memories, hard as he may try, is the perfect vehicle for anyone like Natalie smart enough to use for their own purposes. Everyone is using this guy, from Natalie to the hotel clerk; if he knows he doesn't care, well not for long anyway, most importantly he has to kill John G.
"Remember Sammy Jankis". It appears that Teddy is the first person to take advantage of Lennie by using him to bump off an undesirable, but it's hard to tell from the film whether Teddy has persuaded him that his wife was murdered by junkies or if Lennie has persuaded himself of it because of an inability to accept the awful truth. Or maybe he doesn't remember the truth, maybe Sammy Jankis' story is that close to the truth.
I love it. I'm not sure if there's a philosophical point to the movie, but it's a very, very clever idea, beautifully acted by all. If you want some food for thought and a plot so convoluted it takes more than one viewing to unravel it to it's full extent, this is an excellent film.