Modern-day noir masterpiece; Nolan is a filmmaker to watch; Pearce is devastatingly brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2008)

MEMENTO (2001) **** Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior, Larry Holden, Jorja Fox, Stephen Tobolowsky, Harriet Sansom Harris. Intricately unravelling, disjointed piece of pulpy neo-noir that focuses on short-term memory victim/anti-hero Leonard Shelby (Pearce in one humdinger of a role) who is avidly trying to find the man who raped and murdered his wife (Fox in flashbacks) but trying desperately to maintain his own scattershot recollections of things past and current, particularly the latter as he finds himself holed up in a seedy hotel, befriended by possible femme fatale Moss and weasel cop Pantoliano (both excellently skewering the plot aloing nicely) and coming to terms with his own sanity. Brilliantly conceived by novice filmmaker Christopher Nolan (who adapted his brother Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori") weaves back and forth with storytelling devices at full throttle including flashback, piecemeal clues and red herrings abound and more tellingly the ingenuous use of editing and the adrenaline pumped consequences the film unspools with great elan and aplomb. One of the best indies in quite some time and original in its execution is only superseded by a heartfelt and justifiably innate turn by Pearce - who adds some black humor liberally when needed - whose identity is in flux from the get go. One of the year's best films, bar none. My favorite: the foot chase sequence when Pearce can't figure out if he is the pursuer or pursuee!