The faces you will see framed against the mountainous Dolpo Region of Nepal will look real because they are real. Valli is a still photographer of international renown who has been shooting in Nepal for 20 years. His film, which concerns the death of a young leader and the relentless actions of his grieving and aggrieved father, was a 1999 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film, and just found an American distributor this year. It is said to be beautiful and deeply felt. Memento is attracting adherents like some sort of religious order.
People see it once, then twice, then a third time with a group of friends.
Director Christopher Nolan has devised an apparently irresistible combination of cinematic tour de force and intellectual playland, with all the twists and turns. It concerns Leonard Shelby, a man whose wife was killed, or so it seems. As if that s not bad enough, he is stuck in a film in which events are seen backwards, with the final scene of the narrative shown first. So we have no more memory than Leonard of what has transpired a moment or two ago. At least that s the word.