Mindblowing Thriller

Rating: 10/10 (31 October 2013)

Memento a film that needs multiple viewings. 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.
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. Her role as Natalie is pivotal to the audience's realisation that this movie is deliberately playing with their head.
There are very few films that offer an experience as engrossing as this, although it's not for everyone. If you're the kind of person that likes to work things out for yourself using the available evidence (just like Leonard) then this is for you. If you like your movies to be clear cut and easy to understand on the original viewing, this may not be to your taste. As a rewatch 03/13/20' Memento remains one of the greater films as it is complex and at times hard to follow, but once understood, this film is a great piece of cinema.