Lives on a single original idea

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2003)

And nothing else.
Yes, it's an original idea to tell a story backwards. Then what?
Cinematography, music and acting are vaguely competent, honest TV-series like, nothing more. Though I think Guy Pierce could do much better with a proper direction.
As for the character study, it's very, very shallow. And totally unbelievable. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have to write down everything you have to remember on small pieces of paper? The guy should have his pockets FILLED UP with pieces of paper, and would NEVER be able to find the right one when he needs it. Seeing this guy finding the right photos and memos just when he needed them was SO contrived, SO artificial that it had me laughing. Loud.
Just count how many "memos" you already have in your pockets, in your diary, in your drawers... now imagine you loose the ability to remember things, and think about it for 2 seconds... Your house wouldn't be large enough to store the paper. You'd be not in "Memento", but in "Brazil". *LOL*
If I sit down and simply use my imagination, I have hundreds of better ideas than this. If I look in my movies collection, I have dozens of better movies than this one.
To think that this movie is anything but vaguely entertaining shows a lack of insight, of imagination, and a very shallow culture in Cinema. "Memento" is just another anecdotal curiosity, that will rapidly disappear from the public's memory (unless everyone writes down "Memento is a great movie" on a small piece of paper and puts it his pocket for the years to come...).
Go watch Cronenberg's "Spider" or "eXistenZ", or Jonze's "Being John Malkovitch", if you want REAL imagination, originality and insight. Just a couple of ideas. Enough to bury "Memento" very deep.