Still not sure what I think (major spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (8 April 2001)

I find that with most films I am pretty sure of my reaction on leaving or soon after. This is the exception. I still don't know what I think.
This is undoubtedly a cleverly-made and extremely well-acted piece, with Guy Pearce a standout. It is based on an excellent idea, mostly well carried out. So why am I not sure I have witnessed a great film?
For one thing I think the device of working back through the story became somewhat mechanical towards the middle. I was rather tired and actually found myself nodding off a bit and having to force myself to concentrate.
Secondly, I discovered with the Usual Suspects that there is something quite unsatisfying about a movie in which nothing that has happened may have been real. With Memento, what actually happens in the film is quite real; that is, Lenny is angry because of what Teddy tells him and he makes a conscious decision to record information about Teddy which will lead him (after he has forgotten the actual conversation) to hunt Teddy down and kill him believing that Teddy is his wife's killer. The trouble is, we can't believe Teddy ourselves and therefore we know nothing at all at the end about Lenny, nothing about his wife, nothing about whether his memories of Sammy are real, just nothing. I found this unsatisfying. I don't demand that all ends get tied up but some resolution is needed.
I think ultimately I didn't actually believe in the validity of Lenny's condition as portrayed. My feeling is that, if such a condition exists, it would be infinitely more disabling than shown, (more in fact like the portrayal of Sammy than of Lenny). It might be argued that movies can set their own rules but this is a movie which invites us to think about it. The trouble is, some movies begin to break up when you think about them too much, the inconsistencies appear and you lose the emotion you might have had when watching them.
Several comments have mentioned that the movie deserved more than an art house release. Here in Australia, it is showing at my local multiplex, and has been quite extensively advertised. But I think quite a lot of the audience will feel uncomfortable with it. Not because they are too thick to understand it but because, ultimately, our possible concern for Lenny (generated mostly by Guy Pearce's performance) is dissipated by the self-conscious technique of the story.
I'm still not sure if, for me, this was a flawed masterpiece or a waste of time.