A unique experiment that works brilliantly

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2002)

I love experimental films. But, experimental films often fail to engage because the experiment overwhelms the story or there is no real story to tell. Timecode is a good example of an experiment that failed. Memento, on the other hand, is an experiment that succeeds brilliantly. As you can tell within the first few minutes of the film, this movie tells the story in reverse. It's almost like they took a conventional movie, cut it into scenes, and played the scenes in reverse order. This works because you are seeing the world from the eyes of someone who has no short term memory. As such, this could have been a gimmik. Instead, it's a tool for telling a complex and fascinating story. I found myself re-watching many scenes to figure out what had happened and what I had missed, only adding to the experience of the film.
Beware, if you are a lazy, don't bother. This is a complex film that you'll have to pay close attention to or you just won't get it.