The structure

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2002)

I've read a lot of reviews of Memento that say the reverse structure shows how it feels to be like Leonard. After the first scene, it doesn't! If he has no memory, then he can't backtrack, now can he? He can't figure out what we end up seeing by the end of the movie. He would move forward, aimlessly (and once he takes his picture at the beginning and writes out that he's finally done it, then he will no longer have the mystery the "ending" of the movie claims he desires).
There are different types of narrative structures, and they each have their uses and limitations. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is told from an anonymous and distant point of view, because if it was in first person or even third person limited, the story of a town who each year select a victim to be stoned wouldn't be believeable. Just as that is true, stories like Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" need to be closer to the main character but still not in their voice. Then there are stories, such as Welty's "Why I Live in the P.O." which are told by the main character, yet reveals that character's limited perspective and biases.
Perhaps Nolan would have done better to have stuck with a structure that truly stayed with how the character thought, though quite frankly, I don't think it's possible for a movie to truly express that kind of condition, because we are not afflicted and anything shown--forwards or backwards or sideways--will be remembered. Perhaps he really should have written it in a more omniscient style, showing how the other characters react to him as opposed to the other way around. After all, with the exception of the forward-moving black and white sequences, he always acted exactly the same (until the speeches at the end), which makes it a little boring and repetetitive to follow him constantly.