Fantastic Film - A stunning Thriller that you will be thinking about for weeks.

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2010)

Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a man who, after witnessing the rape and murder of his wife, seeks revenge on the killer. However, the night his wife was murdered he sustained an injury to the head. This injury caused anterograde amnesia, more commonly known as short term memory loss. He remembers who he is, in fact he remembers everything up to the night when he became handicapped. The problem is that he cannot create NEW memories - after only about ten minutes his memory fades. This means that if he is in a conversation for too long he forgets how it started, if he is given directions to a destination he will forget them very soon, and everybody he meets he forgets. Leonard takes Polaroid photographs of places and people he comes into contact with and writes information about them on the Polaroid, and the really important facts he tattoos onto his body.
The real genius of this movie is the storytelling technique. It is told in a non-linear storyline. It shows the last chapter in the story first, then it goes back and shows the previous chapter. You are notified of the change by short black-and-white scenes in which Leonard is talking on the phone to an anonymous person. This backwards technique fits perfectly with Leonard's condition - he doesn't know what happened in the last chapter and neither do you. When Leonard looks at a Polaroid or at one of the tattoos on his body you are also shown, meaning that at no point do you know more or less than Leonard about what happened earlier. This film starts with the revenge killing, and works backwards to show us the preceding events.
Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) plays a woman who appears to be a friend to Leonard, but Leonard's only source on her character are the notes that he doesn't remember taking. Joe Pantoliano is excellent as Teddy, a police officer who could be untrustworthy.
All of the acting is fantastic, and i'm sure 90% of the people who have seen this film are equally amazed as to how Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception) wasn't awarded the Oscar for best director or best original screenplay. This was Nolan's second full length film, and in my view, his best.
In conclusion - hunt out this film the way Leonard hunts out his wife's killer, and watch it. It is slightly confusing, and you may have questions at the end, but it is worth it. Personally i have not been able to get this fantastic piece of cinema out of my head for weeks. This movie is simply brilliant.