A Dome Rumbler

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2011)

Leonard Shelby wakes each morning to find that he can't remember anything past the date he and his wife were attacked in their home. During the attack, he received permanent brain damage and is unable to store short-term memory. Memento is a film depicting his journey to track down and kill the man who raped and murdered his wife. You experience the movie just Leonard Shelby experiences life -- unable to draw on the past to determine how to perceive the present. Shelby is often confused and disoriented, but his drive to track down his wife's murderer gives him the ability to act on instinct and a few small notes and tattoos. The story itself is an incredible one, and you will certainly enjoy it. The telling of the story engages the brain in a unique way. As the film progresses, the viewer finds the information being presented explains scenes from earlier in the movie -- because the movie is presented basically in reverse. This style is similar to Pulp Fiction, but rather than a loose correlation of characters intimated in brief encounters, most people catch on to Memento's pattern rather quickly. This causes the viewer to desire sources of information that are the basis for Shelby's actions. The movie is an excellent story and presentation with a powerful climax, but some viewers may find the style of presentation tasking. I continually found myself waiting for information and paying less attention to the occurrences of the film. I truly sympathized with Leonard Shelby by the end of the movie, but since the presentation allowed viewers to know what the end result of each scene would be, I really had a feeling that I wanted the key element of the scene to appear. After that element appeared, I completely lost interest in the rest of the scene. Viewed linearly, the characters might be a little unrealistic. The musical score was extremely outdated -- it reminded me of something from a 60s or 70s film. The acting was excellent, with the exception of Guy Pearce -- incidentally the main character. I understand that it is very difficult to play a handicapped person, but I found his blonde hair and clean-cut look to be insufficient in compensating for his overly cool demeanor and emotionless performance. Watch this movie. It is a fair picture of a rare medical condition with a brilliant ending; however, I can only credit Jonathon Nolan with brilliance and Christopher Nolan with some pretty sub-par directing.