THIS is where all the good screenwriters have gone.

Rating: Null/10 (2 July 2001)

Okay.
From the moment I heard of this movie, I've read countless reviews that lambasted its unconventional styling, pacing, and storytelling approach. It doesn't adhere to such-and-such set of screenwriting guidelines that've been in place for the better part of a century, it doesn't lead the viewer clearly through the sequence of events, it's not expository enough; it requires too much audience participation to unravel the plot.
Yes, it does.
And I say, so what?
How many acknowledged masterpieces have been hit with the same criticism? How many spectacular screenplays, do you suppose, never make it to the screen because of the same predjudices against anything different?
Yes, this movie is different. It grabs hold of you by your insides and forces you into the Hero's predicament, makes his confusion yours, makes his journey to self-discovery yours. It tosses out little clues now and then, cunningly leads the viewer into making their own leaps of logic, but never does it dare let you think you know for certain what's going on... and whenever you think you're getting close to the truth, well. Time for another look at the scenario from further away, isn't it?
The concept was a beauty; and very rarely is something this complex and at the same time, elegantly simple, ever realized so well. This movie works. Put away the high-brow criticism and the analysis and watch it; it works. The mood is perfect, the plotline both original and painfully real, the pacing near-genius.
Supposedly, this movie is lost to the mass-market. The average American moviegoer can't hold his/her attention to the screen for long enough to unravel this gem of a film. Requires too much thought, requires too much energy, doesn't come in a language or a format most can comprehend.
It's not being handed to you gift-wrapped, in other words.
Again I say, so what? You'd almost think the average viewer was suffering from the same short-term memory deficit that causes Leonard to restlessly flip through channels on the television. There's a term for this: short attention span, brought about by fifty years of thirty-second bursts of consumer incentive and half-hour sitcoms with neat little plots and no loose ends. Hello. This is reality knocking, may I come in?
And if the answer is no, go back to cowtipping on Friday nights, or go and see 'Austin Powers 3' or whatever other bit of tripe the movie industry is throwing out this summer, and leave mind-trip masterpieces like 'Memento' to the big boys and girls who can handle it.