Nolan's Brain-Wringing Memento will Not Be Easily Forgotten!

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2015)

Many psychological thrillers rely on twists to deliver their climactic pay-off. But director Christopher Nolan's brain-wringing psycho noir Memento isn't just a movie with a twist - It is a twist!
Essentially, Memento is a straightforward revenge flick with the central protagonist out to track down the man who raped and murdered his wife. But this standard plot comes with an ingenious twist, as we soon find out that our befuddled hero is on a voyage of self- discovery like no other. Matters are complicated by the fact that the person investigating the killing Leonard Shelby (an outstanding Guy Pearce, eliciting sympathy and hinting at the rage behind his obsession, while also leavening the character with moments of humor) has the memory of a goldfish – a rare form of amnesia leaving him with no short-term memory. Forced to record everything with copious notes, Polaroid photographs and even tattoos, Leonard's obsession leads him into a world where no one can be trusted. This coupled with Christopher Nolan's audacious conceit that necessitates the plot to run backwards, makes Memento a dazzling, highly original 'anti-thriller'. Thus, we begin with the climactic murder then regress through the events that led up to it to wind up, well, at the beginning!
Memento is a mesmerizing mind-bender, a diabolical and absorbing experience that requires a lot of concentration, but the stunning final scene is ample reward. Christopher Nolan builds a mousetrap of a neo-noir, using the tricky gimmick of a complex, purposefully disorienting narrative that puts us in the scrambled mind of its protagonist. As the strangely captivating screenplay unfolds in scenes of reverse order, he gives us a taste of Leonard's frustrating existence: events unfolding for the audience in the same way they unfold for Pearce's character. We're thrown out of time and robbed of the comfort of a (chrono)logical unspooling of information. Nolan cranks up the suspense, keeps the story sharp and pacey, and isn't afraid to layer in a little ultra-black humor. The impact is insidious - chances are your brain will be replaying this fiendish puzzle of a film for months to come.
Christopher Nolan's cinematic gaze into an abyss of madness, obsession, identity and wrath remains a compelling puzzle long after its revelations have rolled out. Of all the ironies which fill the film, the most complementary may be that this is film which will not soon be forgotten.