A complex time-puzzle with brilliantly crafted characters

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2001)

When I first saw the preview for Memento, I thought, "Wow, what a good cast and interesting concept!" Then I saw the movie and thought, "WOW, what a PHENOMENAL cast and INGENIOUS concept!" The movie is about Leonard, a man with no short-term memory due to a violent "incident" in his past, and his search for the man who killed his wife. To compensate for his very rare and odd handicap, he takes Polaroids of people and places he needs to remember and, for those truly necessary facts, tattoos them upon his body. This alone would have held my attention throughout the movie, but director Christopher Nolan shoots the movie in segments starting at the end and working its way to the beginning. Sounds pretentious, but it truly creates an environment where the viewer feels the confusion and struggle that Leonard feels. This style of editing makes Memento's characters the hardest to decipher of nearly any movie I have seen. The two main supporting characters are played wonderfully, brilliantly, powerfully, intelligently and eerily by Carrie Anne-Moss and Joe Pantoliano. Each plays a character with such varying motives and actions that the viewer cannot find the line between truth and manipulation. The ending is a real kicker(don't worry, I won't spoil it) and I could spend a lot more time talking about this film, but I will leave it at this and simply say, "One of the year's best...without a doubt! Kudos to everyone involved with this movie, it rocks!"