A thought-provoking film with interesting aspects.

Rating: 7/10 (3 November 2010)

Memento Critique I watched this film in my "Writing about literature" class in two segments on two different days. As Memento is such a choppy backwards/forwards sort of film, it was incredibly difficult to follow. The film made it easy for me to get lost and confused, especially watching it in two separate sections. I think to understand it fully you need to watch it two or even three times. The film was deep. It showed an intense vision into the human psyche. It was suspenseful in that, you are waiting for the end (or in this case, the beginning) to fully realize what is happening. There are quite a few readers on IMDb who think the backwards theme for films such as these are cliché however, I think it fit well. Watching it in succession, of course you would know the end from the beginning and though understandable, it wouldn't be as thrilling. Having the film move in this order made it stimulating. I liked it very much, but also personally, tend to like movies which move backwards to bring the mystery to the beginning.
There were several things I found which were interesting within the film. Everyone seems to take advantage of Leonard and his short-term memory. Particularly, Natalie with, "I can talk about whoever the f*** I want! You won't even remember what I say! I can tell you that your wife was a f***ing whore and we can still be friends!"  "I'm gonna use you, you stupid f***. I'm telling you now because I'll enjoy it more if I know that you could stop me if you weren't a freak." She then proceeds in a few minutes to exit and re-enter knowing Leonard won't know what she said. Another instance where she messes with him is when he gets to her bar where she bar-tends at. She spits in his cup and he watches her do so. But with his condition, Leonard doesn't remember and with a slam of the cup he's nothing the wiser. He drinks the beer and she decides he isn't lying about his condition. Leonard is taken for the fool again with his landlord Burt. He lies to him about how he rented a second room and must pay for that room as well as the first. Leonard realizes it didn't happen and Burt fesses up but still had the attempt at getting his hands on more of his money. Teddy attempts at lying just a bit with the line, "You know, I've had more rewarding friendships than this one. Although I do get to keep telling the same jokes." With a condition like Leonard's lack of short term memory, it is simple for even his so-called 'friends' to trick him.
Another thing I found quite interesting was how everyone seems to know when he 'forgets' what he has been told. For example, when Natalie has the fight with Leonard and he punches her, she takes all the pens so he can't write down what she said about his wife, and she walks out to the car. She waits for several minutes and comes back inside, slamming the door behind her. That slam seemed to jog his forgetfulness into existence and he immediately no longer remembers what he was trying to not forget. Also with the mug she smashed down on the bar table, it seemed to snap him out of his previous state and after that, he has a clean slate. Also when he is driving from the 'first' killing – he screeches his breaks and forgets what he just wrote about Teddy. It appears as though a bang or crash makes him forget and that no particular amount of time is what it takes.
And additional interesting aspect to the film was the things he did to keep 'sane' or remember his events. He tattooed himself with certain facts he MUST remember "JOHN G. RAPED AND MURDERED MY WIFE" and "FACT 6. CAR LICENSE NUMBER: SG13 7IU". He takes photographs of each person he meets who he gets to know personally and puts them in his pocket. He creates a map of where he has been and where he needs to go with more photos of places. He also makes up his own reality when he writes on the photos – sometimes lying to himself on purpose. I find it difficult after watching not to speculate on what will happen next. After Teddy is killed, and once you know he isn't the real murderer what happens? What can we speculate about Leonard? Can we perhaps wonder whether he will continue his search and continue to choose to forget what has happened? And how will he understand if he wakes up in the morning, forgotten what he has done, and still has tattoos of Teddy's license plate on his leg? This criminally implicates him, obviously. We read the story the film was based on as well in class and found he previously escaped from a mental institution. Will he only escape again: to commit more murder? Teddy was really the only person who knew who he was and now he has no one helping him decipher the clues and where to go now. Will he always be searching? Memento, whether you loved it or hated it, was nothing short of a very thought-provoking film. And you couldn't guess what happened at the end of the film (beginning of the story) which is how a good suspense film should be. Though confused, I was a huge fan and I think everyone should at least give this film a chance.