"Now... where was I?"

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

Christopher Nolan gives us two things to think about with Memento. One is what would it be like if you couldn't remember what you did 5 minutes ago. Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby who lost his ability to hold on to short term memory after an altercation in his home, where his wife was murdered. Ever since then, Shelby has been trying to track down the murder of his wife, armed with a Poleroid Camera and a pen to tattoo his body with important notes, jotting down notes before he forgets what to write down. Nolan also complicates matters (or challenges the audience) by telling the story backwards, we see the last scene first, and the first scene of the movie, if told linearly, last. This adds mystery to an intriguing story, as we find out things about the characters after we see how they react. Between the scenes, we watch Shelby talk on the phone, to who we don't know, but it fill us in on his disorder and how much he remembers before his accident. Leonard Shelby lives like he died one day, and he sleeps walk through the rest of his life. Joe Pantoliano plays an auto mechanic who may or may not be helping Shelby through his ordeals, and Carrie-Anne Moss plays a woman who may or may not be helping Shelby as well. Much like a Tarantino film, the time warping used by Memento is a gimmick that actually enhances the story. While we see what happened last first, the story, what we are shown, works linearly, the climax of the story would be the first scene in the movie, but here, it's last and fits in much better. The filler material that we see between action sequences adds depth to the emotional torture Shelby goes through. Pearce plays Shelby very well, acting confused when he should be confused, the film never takes shortcuts. For once, the audience knows just as much about everything as the main character does, putting the audience on an even level as the character, we're not going to hear him say something just out of the blue. We all try to put the pieces together, and that puts us in the movie. Just like the Seinfeld episode that was backwards, you have to pay attention, we know where we are going, now, where were we?