My review for a college class.

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2016)

I chose the movie "Memento" for my IMDb review. It's a murder mystery suspense that has a tendency of messing with your mind as you get deeper into the plot of the movie. Guy Pearce plays a man named "Leonard" who has short term memory loss due to being attacked in a home invasion along with the rape and murder of his wife. Which leaves Pearce from making new memories and trusting only Polaroid's and notes that he had written each day. He teams up with co-stars Carrie-Ann Moss who plays "Natalie" and Joe Pantoliano as "Teddy" to help piece together a conclusion to who the man is that raped and murdered his wife.
This shifty film has parallel stories or a form of cross- cutting that coexist with each other. The opening scene with Leonard killing Teddy is actually the ending of the movie. The movie begins with a Polaroid photo returning to its non-exposed state and returning back into the camera. Giving the viewer just enough time to use their imagination on what just happened to fast forward to earlier that day to explain the events that come to play. Each day trough out the movie is played out like this, end of a scene then a flash back on how they got there. Forcing a viewer to keep in mind facts that have been viewed a way to explain how they came about.
In between this backwards told story, a series of black and white scenes actually play out as real time of what Leonard learns as time goes by. Learning while speaking on the phone at his hotel room to a person he does not know besides being a possible police officer. Using this style of cinematography allows the viewer to try and imagine the story in whole. Taking the clues and or facts that have been presented in the colored scenes that are moving backwards and comparing them to the black and white shots drawing the plot even thicker.
Just when a viewer thinks they have an idea on what has happened to this mentally crippled man, with his life erased forever, with only the haunting image of his wife dying on the floor of their home a new plot is introduced. With a quick two minute scene his so called help turns against him tricking him into doing something he would not have done if his memories were true. Natalie the one Leonard can trust the most takes any writing device that can be used so to help him remember what happens and uses his disability to her advantage. Calling him names and talking ill of his wife causing Leonard to lose his cool and then striking her causing injury. Once Leonard has forgot what has happened she plays out a different scenario for him to believe another man caused this.
The use of manipulation during this film takes the cake. Finding out that a person could take advantage of someone like Leonard is just amazing. Its one thing for Natalie to do it but to find out the Teddy all along is the man he has been looking for that committed this heinous crime is outstanding. Finding out the killer he was looking for actually was looking after him so to make sure he never catches on to the series of lies really takes a real piece of strange to pull off. This movie makes a viewer question if the mental capacity of a human brain could even decipher the amount of confusion to be comfortable with the idea of killing a man. This reminds me of the film "Shutter Island" a murder mystery of the same theme but with a slightly different twist. Both great movies, which may cause the viewer to question the very facts of reality itself.