Dark and interesting

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2001)

Others have noted that if the last thing the main character remembers is his wife dying, then he shouldn't remember that he has short-term memory loss. Some might consider this the fatal flaw of "Memento". I recognize it as a flaw, but I don't find it fatal. "Memento" makes a poignant comment on the role emotion and prejudice play in the construction of memories. By sequencing events in a finish-to-start chronology , "Memento" manages to envelope the audience in the same bewilderment that the main character (Guy Pearce of "L.A. Confidential fame in a terrific performance) experiences while also playing on our emotions and prejudices. We have to struggle to keep the plot straight, and as events prior to the ones we've just seen unfold, the assumptions we've made about the characters get challenged and the characters' actions take on new meaning. We have to reinterpret everything that's happened just as the main character does. Dark, stimulating and stylish.