Spectacular, mind-blowing film

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2001)

It's not very often that a movie comes along that takes a genre and turns it upside down, but Memento has managed to do this with the Revenge-Noir genre. Beginning at the end of the story and ending at the beginning, Memento makes you think and pay much more attention to it than most any other movie out there.
Guy Pearce plays a man without the ability to form new memories after a brutal attack on him and his wife. Relentlessly seeking out his wife's killer, he is aided by numerous tattoos and photographs which give him vague clues about what to do and who to believe. But are his notes really trustworthy? Is everything as it seems? The movie wouldn't be near as fun if it was, and works very hard at turning your mind into a pretzel. The fact that you don't know what happened before adds to the desire to see what's next(or before), and helps you sympathize with the main character.

This is a nearly flawless film, a truly magnificent achievement by British director and writer Chris Nolan. Watch it with an intelligent friend for hours of conversation and eye-opening repeat viewing.