Memento more!

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2012)

Christopher Nolan's breakthrough film displays in full his originality in choice of subject and bravura style. "Memento" starts and ends with different murders (or does it?), keeping the viewer engrossed and always on the hop with its forward and backward time-frames, not to mention contrasting colour and monochromatic cinematography.
Brilliantly edited and skilfully acted the film demands complete attention from first to last, or is that last to first, as Guy Pearce's haunted Lenny tries to rebuild his memories and uncover the truth about the rape and murder of his wife. The jump-cuts each time he goes back further in his flashbacks jolt like one waking from a dream and yet build a rhythm to the movie which takes away the viewer's initial expectations as to when his next recurrence will crop up.
Just occasionally the disparate characters and the interlocking story lost me and I'm not completely sure I got the ending but up until that point I was in thrall for most of the time as Nolan presents us with a brilliant twist on film noir, as Pearce's insurance investigator (acting for all the world like a private investigator) finds himself embroiled in a convoluted murder mystery.
Pearce is excellent in the lead, but the rest of the cast are excellent in support in what I imagine must have been a confusing shoot. After a run of excellent original thrillers in the late 80's "The Usual Suspects", "LA Confidential" "Se7en", "The Silence Of The Lambs", it was going to take something very good to continue the new tradition.
For the most part however Nolan delivers and as his subsequent track record shows, it was no fluke