Great psychological thriller that leaves you in deep thought

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 2006)

Memento follows the life of Leonard Shelby, a man who was diagnosed with anterograde amnesia after the junkie who has just raped and murdered his wife hit him over the head with his gun. The main symptom of Leonard's condition is that he cannot create new memories since the incident. He can only remember seeing his wife getting killed and everything before it. This means he can never remember anyone he's met since the incident, what he's done, or even how long it's been since he lost his memory. Lenny is intent on finding and killing the man who raped and murdered his wife, and can only keep track of his progress by taking polaroids of the people he's met and jotting notes on them, tattooing notes all over his body, and so forth. As well as Lenny not knowing what he's done before each given scene, the audience is kept in the dark, too. This is done by showing each memory sequence in reverse order. That is, we start off by seeing the end first, then the next scene will lead up to how that end scene got started, etc. all the way to the start.
If you were to ask me what, in my opinion, is the most brilliantly crafted movie I've ever seen, I would instantly think Memento. Although it wasn't at all easy for me to follow the first time I saw it (the backwards sequences must be paid close attention in order to understand how everything fits together), it still captured me all the way through the film. I didn't fully appreciate it until I watched it through a second time, after which I decided this has to be one of the best movies of all time. The ending is just plain genius, and left me thinking on so many different levels for a long time afterwards. After seeing it a third, and then a fourth time, I was just plain mindblown at the genius of the writing of this movie. What I thought were flaws in the movie (which I accepted because no movie is perfect) turned out to make perfect, logical sense (look in the goofs section of this movie and see those labeled "incorrectly regarded as goofs").
If you haven't yet seen this one, put it at the top of your list, it's a must-see! it will leave you perplexed and I can almost guarantee you that you'll find yourself discussing it with the people around you and thinking deeply on many levels about the concepts this movie presents (if you're anything like me). This is truly a masterpiece.