Not what happens next, but what happens before

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2008)

Imagine you're in a bathroom and you see a bottle of whiskey. And you have to question whether that means you're drunk.
Imagine a woman gets you so angry you hit her in the face and bloody her lip. She walks out of the room, but returns in a few minutes. You ask her who hit her and she tells you some other guy's name. You vow to punish that guy.
Imagine you're running down the street. Some other guy is running too. At first you think you are chasing him. Then, he fires a gun at you and you realize you are the one being chased.
This is Leonard's problem. He's out to find and kill the man who killed his wife. But he can't remember what happened five minutes ago. He uses notes, tattoos and Polaroids to keep track of information he has learned. But some of this information is wrong.
And get this  Leonard's mission of revenge is told in scenes that are backwards-sequenced.
Ingenious. That's the only word to describe this outstanding puzzle movie. Anyone unwilling to devote very close attention to a film should avoid this one. Those willing will find it immensely rewarding.
I like highly contrived movies. Ironically, I'm not a big science fiction fan because I like the contrivances to be within the realm of present-day plausibility, if that makes any sense. If you share that sensibility, check out "Memento."