The processing time is well worth it

Rating: 10/10 (2 April 2001)

Sadly, many people will not "get" this movie. In a lot of cases, it will be because they made the mistake of reading too many reviews or visiting the official web site (which IMO introduces 'facts not in evidence' and ruins it).
In any case, here's what I loved most about Memento: it was the first movie I've seen in years that was completely unpredictable. I guessed the ending of The Usual Suspects, and I don't understand why so many people didn't. But anyway. Every time I thought I had things figured out in Memento, I learned I was wrong. Every pre-conceived notion I started out with was shattered by the end. Nothing was what it seemed, though the differences were of varying degrees. I walked out of the theater questioning just about everything and trying to remember how certain elements fit together. I thought about it the rest of the evening on into the night. I love movies that do that to your head.
The fact that the movie was edited with a backward scene order is sheer brilliance, and I don't think the movie could have worked if it had started at the beginning. In each scene, the viewer is trying to put together a puzzle, just like Leonard is. And even though the viewer may "know" what comes later, he still doesn't know what's going on right now, or why. There are small clues on Leonard's notes that give us a hint and nothing more. It's the closest we could come to having Leonard's condition - the memories we have of previous scenes are pretty much irrelevant to what is going on in the current scene and we are constantly re-evaluating "the facts" in light of new information. I wish I had written the script!
See this movie. But don't plan for anything afterward, because you'll need some time to process it.