some memories are best forgotten

Rating: Null/10 (16 November 2005)

Amid a morass of conventional Hollywood blockbusters all clones of each other featuring inane predictable plots, wasteful special effects and below average acting it is refreshing to think that every so often a filmmaker has the balls to come up with something different and make it into a huge commercial success. Memento is one such film.
Essentially this is about revenge Leonard Shelby an insurance investigator is trying to discover who raped and murdered his wife. A hard task in the best of circumstances but Leonard has an extra problem. During the attack he suffered head injuries, which mean that he has lost all his short-term memory. He is unable to remember any details longer than a few hours. Places names, facts, times mean nothing to him a long time friend becomes a total stranger. Is the next person he meet and old friend or an old enemy? To cope with this he has devised a complicated system utilising tattoos, Polaroid and cryptic messages that tell him about what has occurred these have become his memento a physical representation of the memories he cannot retain. These messages are directed to himself and they are the only way he makes sense of the clues and information he unearths during the search for his wife's killer. He has to have complete trust in what he 'tells' himself, you would think this was self-evident but in the course of his investigation even trusting his own words becomes ever more traumatic for him.
At the beginning of the film we see the revenge killing but this instead of resolving the story does nothing but bring to light a raft of questions, How did he get to find the person's identity, as the right person been killed. The story now begins to unfold retrospectively each layer revealing a little more of what events have brought him to the final killing. Each scene represent and distinct set of memories and rather like peeling an onion layer by layer the story unfolds.
Two other people are intimately involved in Leonard search fro his wife killer John 'teddy' apparently a friend and the mysterious Natalie maybe a friend or a lover? Both have their own agendas and Leonard has now way to know if he can trust them.
The genius of this film is the daring but successful attempt by the director Christopher Nolan to put the viewer in to the shoes of Leonard Shelby. When you watch the film you are constantly struggling to make sense of what is occurring each question that is answered only begs a new set of questions, it is disconcerting and it does challenge your ability to follow the action but this is as close as we can get to what the hero is actually experiencing. This method of telling the story is quite problematic as we are taken through each scene and a new piece of the puzzle is uncovered but there is a certain amount of overlap of events, which could prove to be repetitive. The director has wisely chosen to give us a slightly different view each time and thus retain our interest. Of course as the film develops we have an advantage over Leonard and gradually the truth begin to emerge in a much clearer fashion than it does for him, but there is still room for plenty of twists along the way and a nice sting in the tale.
If we get beyond the central premise of the hero's memory loss Memento is a traditional thriller and it works by the old fashion method of keeping the audience interested, mystified and excited in just the right measures. We have a central mystery to solve we have a list of suspects and plenty of red herrings. The brilliance of the idea was to subvert this form and introduce the unknown factor in the form of the memory loss, which manages to challenge every aspect of the detective form. At a more fundamental level it also makes us realise how much of ourselves, of our identity depends on our memory and on the connection and relationship we have to other people. Once this security of 'knowing' is taken away we become lost and completely at the mercy of others.
It is hard to fault the film all the performances are excellent. Guy Pearce his neighbour's days thankfully long behind him is outstanding as a man totally adrift, alone trying to cling on to the one purpose left in his life the desire to know who murdered his wife. Better still is the ever dependable and highly underrated Joe Patagliagno as the 'maybe' friend 'Teddy'. Just as Leonard is never sure how much he can trust him neither are we. Carrie-Ann Moss taking a break from kicking virtual ass in the Matrix series once again puts in a great performance, do we trust her, is she manipulating the situation to exact her own revenge?
The films great strength can also be considered it potential flaw. The confusion that is inevitable can make it difficult for some to follow, especially for those who are used to a film flowing over them in a passive way. Memento requires you to exercise your brain and even when it is all over certain questions will still remain and further viewing is essential.
Of course the central paradox of the film should not be forgotten, this is a revenge story but of course the character has now way of remembering the actual crime, his memory is gone and the memory of the act of revenge will also be a fleeting one.
So story and acting are outstanding but a mention also has to go to the cinematography and soundtrack that both helped greatly to create the oppressive mood that pervaded throughout he film and is essential to generate the sense of fragility that exists in Leonard's connection to the world.