Art, Entertainment, and Humor; All in One Convient Movie

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2005)

When this film first came out, I was blown away. It was the first film since "L.A. Confidential" that I actually liked and renewed my faith in film as art and entertainment.
Unlike so many of the films coming out of the Hollywood money machine, this film actually started with a very well written script and everything else was built around the script. What a concept! The script had to be thought out really well because of the format of showing the end first and going backwards in segments. Also the use of using black and white for part of the story that moves forward and using color for the main part of the story which is told backwards.
There's great dialog in this film and despite the "noir" concept, it has quite a sense of humor. At one point Leonard defends his affliction by saying "memory is unreliable." Burt tells Leonard "it's all backwards," which is speaking about the format of the film.
The cast is universally excellent. Guy Pierce does a west coast accent that had me fooled, and I have lived here all my life. Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano are better than they were in "The Matrix."
The ending is rather ambiguous. There is debate whether you should not believe Teddy because he lies or if he is telling the truth because he knows that Leonard will not remember anyway. There are some hints where we see a glimpse of Sammy in the mental hospital and then see Leonard in his place. We see a glimpse of Leonard giving his wife an insulin shot, but then he decides that she was not diabetic and he remembers that he was only pinching her. There is a shot of him laying next to his wife, covered in his tattoos full of clues. We don't what is really memory and what is imagination. This is pretty much Leonard's state of mind also.
It's a shame that Christopher Nolen has chosen a career in Hollywood after doing this independent masterpiece. Hopefully he will make a whole bunch of money and go back to making entertaining art films.