Memento, Clever, Slick, and sometimes Horrifying

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2007)

Yo might think that you forget things often. Maybe you forget a pencil for school, a binder for work, or your car keys when you walk to your car. What if that happened everyday? What if you could never remember anything new? What if you could never remember anything after a certain point in your life? This is how Leonard Shelby feels.
"Memento" tells the story of Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), who was faced with a terrible incident a a few years back which resulted in his wife's death and his ability to make new, recent memories completely demolished. He does not know for how long, but Leonard has been looking for his wife's killer, a man that he has only seen with a mask over his face. Leonard doesn't know if he has ever killed the man already or he is still looking for him since he can't remember anything new for more than 5 minutes.
To make sure he remembers new, important info, Leonard gets many tattoos all over his body. He believes that writing notes when he has such a severe condition like this would make him very confused, therefore, tattoos make more sense since he sees them everyday. Some of these tattoos say, "John G did it" or "Your wife is dead." All of this, just to remember what he has to do daily.
The sad part is, Leonard might find this killer. He might have known him forever. But if he ever comes face to face with him, before having seen his tattoos, he won't know what to do since he doesn't know why he is looking or what happened to his wife.
"Memento" has a very disturbing element to it that is very creative on the Nolan brothers' part. Collaborative writing has never worked out so good and single credit directing...they might be the next Coen brothers.
At this point, the Nolan's had only mad one film prior, 1998's "Following" and have since this made "Insomnia," "Batman Begins," and "The Prestige," all great, full-of-twists thrillers.
Their best film definitely is "Memento" with it's edge of your seat thrills, camera angles, and great acting. The best part of the film is that it's told in reverse and forwards so you get a sense of what Leonard goes through since you have to remember what happened before and why it connects to what's happening now.
Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Joe Pantaliano could not have been more perfectly cast as the title characters. Guy Pearce as Leonard, the star, Carrie-Ann Moss, as Natalie, a woman who helps Leonard with his problem since she, like him, has also lost someone close to her. And Joe Pantaliano stars as Teddy, whose identity never seems to be certain throughout the film.
"Memento" is a definite must-see. It has no flaws whatsoever and should be viewed before anyone's death. It is one of my personal favorite movies and I have yet to meet anyone who hates this film. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.