A movie to 'remember'

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2002)

Wow! "Memento" is one the best films I've seen in a long time. Only a couple of small inconsistencies stop me from considering it a masterpiece. It is however, the type of film that makes you think and pay attention as you watch. If you like to just sit back and relax while the movie pleasantly and neatly unfolds from beginning to end and everyone lives happily ever after, this one may not be for you.
The gist: Leonard Shelby wakes up, looks around, and realizes he's in a motel room. But for how long? Could be a day, a week, he's not sure. Sounds like a really bad hangover, huh? Actually, he suffers from memory loss. Not the typical amnesia you've seen in about a hundred previous movies. Instead of not knowing his past or who he is, Leonard has exactly the opposite problem. He can remember everything in his life up to 'the incident'. But now, due to his 'condition', he can't make any new memories. He can only remember things for a few minutes and then it fades away. Interesting concept. To function in society, he must write important things down and take Polaroid pictures of people and places in order to 'remember' them later. Really important facts he tattoos all over his body. Early in the film, we find that Leonard's driving force is to hunt down the person responsible for wrecking his life. A monumental task considering he can't remember people or know whom he can trust.
An interesting aspect of this movie is that is viewed in reverse. It starts with the last chronological scene and works it's way, scene by scene, backward to 'the incident'. This, no doubt, contributes to the confusion some people have expressed. In my opinion, Christopher Nolan makes it work quite well. It is arguably the only way to shoot a plot of this nature. If it moves along chronologically, the audience knows (and remembers) everything that happens while poor Leonard forgets everything after a few minutes and looks like an idiot. The other effect that the reverse chronology had on me was that after viewing the film, I immediately wanted to see it again. How often can you say that about a movie? The desire to watch a particular movie more than once is the reason we buy them anyway, right?
There are no mega star actors, no acclaimed director, no multi-million dollar special effects, and was shot in 25 days. But it is an exceptional film due to excellent directing, acting and thought provoking original plot. Hollywood should take a good look at this and consider overhauling their usual cookie cutter movie-making machine.
The plot wasn't logically perfect and there was one piece of the puzzle that didn't neatly fit (I can't elaborate without giving spoilers), but it was altogether too good to nitpick. If you like to be challenged a bit by a movie as opposed to being lulled to sleep, this one's definitely a 'Must See'.