Remember Sammy Jankis

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2002)

Let me start this off by saying "Whoa! This movie is absolutely spectacular!" ... After you watch it several times. I first heard of this movie from a friend in my Drama class. He was incredibly ecstatic about Memento. He rambled on about it for twenty minutes, giving praise to the creators of this masterpiece. I decided, being the quality film buff that I am, that I should check it out. This first time around, I found the plot to be cumbersome and hard to follow. I didn't want to brush it off as some sort of elaborate gimmick film just yet, so as soon as the ending credits rolled, I started the DVD over and watched it from the top again. The second time through, I was able to follow the complicated plot twists with better ease. I had this same problem with Pulp Fiction, but, as with Pulp Fiction, watching the movie twice helped to alleviate my worries.
Memento drops you into the mind of a man named Leonard, who runs around playing detective while hot on the heels of John G., the man who he believes is one of the two men responsible for the rape and murder of his beloved wife. John G., who escaped from the crime scene unscathed, didn't leave empty handed. With him he took away Leonard's ability to make new memories. Now Leonard stumbles around in a world of delirium and uncertainty as he searches for the man who killed his wife. Without a short term memory and the ability to make new memories, Leonard is forced to rely on scattered notes written on paper, tatoo facts, and Poloroid pictures to make his life liveable. The life of John or Jack G.(Leonard's not sure of which name it is) now depends upon Leonards "notes". Sadly enough, Leonard isn't even aware of how long his wife has been dead. He doesn't even know if he'll remember that he has killed John G. after he finds him and kills him.
Along the way Leonard meets Natalie, a bartender, and keeps bumping into a mysterious man named Teddy who claims to be Leonard's friend. These two are constantly pulling Leonard in different directions, which leads to an interesting question. Who should he trust? And a tattoo on Leonard's left hand reminds him to "REMEMBER SAMMY JANKIS.", a man with the same short term memory problem as Leonard. What's the connection between Sammy and Leonard? Watch the movie to find out!
Overall, this is a great film that is worthy of a lot of your time. And trust me, it's going to take a lot of your time to figure this movie out. The acting is wonderful, the cinematography works great with the memory loss angle, and the telling of the story in reverse breathes a fresh breath of air into the movie industry. Guy Pearce(Leonard) is at his best in this film, as is Joe Pantoliano(Teddy). Carrie-Anne Moss(Natalie) deserves an honorable mention as well. If you're looking for a movie that will keep you guessing to the final moments of the film, then look no further than Memento.