A mystery of rare quality that actually holds some surprises

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2001)

"Memento" featuring Guy Pearce ("L.A. Confidential", "Ravenous"), Carrie-Anne Moss ("The Matrix"), and Joe Pantoliano ("The Matrix", "The Sopranos", "Midnight Run") is a superb murder mystery told in reverse. The main character (Pearce), whose wife was killed, investigates the evidence while handicapped with a condition that cripples his ability to make new memories. As a result, he is living in a continuous flow of short-term memory that barely connects moments to each other. To connect the evidence he collects and to trust it, he must make continuous notes which bear increasingly paranoid messages like "DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE." Since we're connecting the dots backwards, we don't know any more about what's going on than he does. This is the gambit on which the mystery hinges and it actually works beautifully. The result is a film with continuous twists and surprises which allows you the joy and the puzzle of putting the entire story into context in your own mind. Like "The Usual Suspects" and "The Sixth Sense", it makes you want to see it again for clues you missed the first time around.