Not a Gimmick at All

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2010)

The picture is clear, a man has just been killed. His killer is holding the picture, he shakes it, the picture get's dimmer, he shakes it again, the picture is almost white, he shakes it again, and there is no more picture. The killer proceeds to put the picture back into the camera. Confused? This first scene lays down the basic structure of this brilliant movie, and that brilliant structure is based off one question. How can an audience relate to a man with sever short term memory loss? The answer is to start from the end, end at the beginning.
Leonard Shelby, an insurance fraud agent who's last night of his regular life is seeing his wife dying in front of him, and he's helpless to do anything about it. He wakes up every day with that image, and he is determined to kill the man who put it there. With the help of his friend Teddy, he works to track down the killer. The only thing is, he has this condition, after a period of time, usually ranging around 7-10 minutes, he forgets everything. So how does one acquire a friend, when he can't even remember them meeting? It's a good question with one hell of an answer.
This is a wonderful movie with absolutely amazing performances all around. Joe Pantoliano, is wonderful as Teddy, always trying to push Leonard down one path, Carrie Anne Moss is phenomenal as Natalie, she seems to care for Leonard, but in this movie nothing is as it seems. The true appraise all goes to Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby.Every scene he is clueless, and usually has to immediately act on instinct, not quite sure how he got there, not quite sure who the guy in the closet is, not quite sure how to get out.
But about this "gimmick." This is not a cheap trick to confuse the audience, even though it is, but that's not the intention exactly. It's so we can relate to Leonard's state of mind. He has short term memory loss, would this be a better film if we saw it from the beginning, found out the surprise plot twist immediately, and just went down the classic road of a man who refuses to listen to reason and the results. I don't think so. In fact, that would be awful. I know a lot of people who say it wouldn't be a good film without the "gimmick," but that doesn't make a good movie. All of Tarantino's movies are non linear story lines, but everyone seems to accept that without question.
Chris Nolan does something brilliant here, and we can't get past the "gimmick" which is the worst reason to take credit from a movie. Get over it.