Don't turn your focus to something else, not for an instant. You don't know what you could miss. The story of a man bent on revenge, Memento is a smart, inventive thriller told backward, like a waterfall rushing up a cliff. Maybe that sounds confusing. Maybe that sounds weird.
Memento is neither.
It is sleek, exciting, witty, suspenseful and easily the most original American film to be seen so far this year. Leonard is the victim of a crime. The same attack that cost him his wife also left him with no short-term memory. He remembers the past, but can make no new memories. Determined nonetheless to hunt down his wife's killer, Leonard has his body tattooed with clues.