Cold & mechanical.

Rating: 5/10 (24 March 2019)

I regrettably have to admit "Memento" is easily & without doubt Christopher Nolan's worst film; led by a fascinating concept which is explored masterfully; moulding a story from it which is expertly shot & crafted & the narrative is as clever as you'd expect from this particular filmmaker... BUT it suffers from one MAJOR problem; a total & utter lack of any emotional investment.
Let me explain: typically, audiences follow character's stories as they watch & invest themselves in them as they progress from the beginning to the end; here's the immediate dilemma with "Memento" - how on Earth am I meant to care about a character who is literally incapable of progressing in any way?
Our lead is a man who suffers from an inability to create lasting memories & that idea is an undeniably intellectual concept to wrap your head around - not hard to see why it was so appealing to delve into as a writer - but when the character is repeatedly discovering himself & his whereabouts in every consecutive sequence, the 2 hour movie rapidly becomes repetitive & fails to go anywhere remotely interesting...
Every new progression of the plot is predictably led by the regression & reversion of the character to the point where he's back to exactly the same person he was before from the beginning, so there's ultimately no emotional anchor to provide the film with any weight. Hence, the feature starts to feel mechanical & cold, taking one clever step forward & two emotional steps in the opposite direction. By the time the credits roll, you're in no doubt about the inventiveness of those behind it, but it's completely devoid of any aspect which could cause me to give a damn about what's taken place so it's monotonous & inconsequential... Completely dull & overlong.
Probably would've been better as a short film instead.