True creation.

Rating: 10/10 (4 September 2001)

A polaroid picture fades before your very eyes. A tragic story painfully unfolds to you, starting at the end and moving towards the beginning. Memento is a true masterpiece of creativity and masterful acting. Guy Pearce should make the majority of young hollywood actors feel ashamed of themselves. Pearce has emerged as a truly exciting and versatile actor that blows almost everyone out of the water.
Guy Pearce plays Leonard, a man suffering from a form of amnesia that doesn't allow him to retain memories. Thus, he wakes up every morning unaware of what has happened to him previously. He can only recall memories from the time before he contracted his condition. All Leonard knows is that he is in search of the man who has raped and killed his wife. He has tattooed everything he knows about this man to his body so as not to forget. The story proceeds in reverse chronological order, which works because Leonard can't tell how time is progressing anyway, due to his amnesia. Leonard meets many people on his journey, but who can he trust. Many people are intent on taking advantage of Leonard due to his lack of memory (the motel manager who charges Leonard for two rooms). Many people are not what they seem to be. Is Leonard what he seems to be? Will the story end how you expect? No. Memento had me guessing the whole time. Right when I thought I knew "the secret" the story would twist around and I would be left in complete awe.
The movie also stars Joe Pantoliano and Carrie Anne-Moss. Who both do great jobs, especially Pantoliano. Memento is a movie that everyone should see, a gem in a sea of tired Hollywood stories. Christopher Nolan has shown that he can direct a truly new and creative movie. See it now.