Memento (2000) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A man with anterograde amnesia attempts to seek revenge against the mysterious assailant he believes killed his wife and gave him brain damage.

Review: Now we come to one of my all time favorite movies and easily one of the greatest movies of all time, "Memento." Simply: wow! Few words can describe the sheer awesomeness that is this film. I have to give immense credit to Chris and Jonathan Nolan--top-notch writing of the utmost caliber. But, beyond an amazing story, every facet of the production was perfect and exactly what they were striving for; I'd go as far as to say they accomplished significantly more than what was intended. This is how you properly execute your ideas all the while implementing creative and interesting film techniques that leave the audience completely awe-inspired. There have only been a handful of films over the years that touched me so deeply and this is one of them. I cannot fathom walking away from this movie feeling anything other than astonishment, and it says a lot that I still get that feeling each time I see it.

I won't spoil too much about the story, because I believe it is better watched than explained and it's kind of hard to explain anyway. Essentially, we see the events of the film told backward while simultaneously provided narration from the main character, Leonard, played magnificently by Guy Pearce. Leonard has anterograde amnesia which is a rare condition that leaves an individual with the inability to form new memories. Meaning, all the knowledge you possess up to the point of the brain damage is retained, but you cannot gain anything else. Obviously this makes functionality in life difficult and the film explains this in great detail with Leonard using notes, photos, and tattoos to help him maintain focus. I've always found the subject of anterograde amnesia fascinating, and I would encourage anyone even mildly interested in the subject to explore it more deeply since it is so rarely documented. Anyway, Leonard was injured during an assault when two criminals broke into his home, raped and killed his wife, and left him for dead with the brain damage...or so he believes. Leonard is obsessed with seeking revenge on one of the criminals that escaped since the other was seemingly killed in the struggle; the police don't believe there were two criminals. The presentation in the film is key as each scene ends where the prior scene began. For example, the first scene of the movie shows Leonard killing someone, then the prior scene shows what led to this and ends right before the first scene had begun. Hopefully that makes sense (just watch the damn movie!). You're, maybe, a couple minutes into the film before you find yourself completely engrossed in the action and it does not let up until the glorious conclusion. There is a wonderful mystery and the audience is pretty much as confused as Leonard (in a good way) up until the end when all the pieces of the puzzle finally come into place. I cannot stress enough the amazing way the story unfolds and how the audience is provided just enough information to string you along between each new twist. We get all kinds of excellent themes along the way like the importance of memory, the way memories can be manipulated, the delusions we convince ourselves of, what is absolute truth and do we want to know it, and how much can you trust someone...or yourself for that matter. There's some heavy shit here, Doc! To add icing to the cake, there are multiple ways to interpret the conclusion, and the events of the film itself, with a lot of the answers coming from the morally ambiguous Teddy character, played perfectly by Joe Pantoliano.

What can really be said that others have not already addressed about this remarkable film? It's always easier to tear into shitty films, but when you're dealing with a movie this good it's as if all I want to say is "I love it" and call it a review! The acting is perfect, the music is hypnotic, the editing was/is award winning, the pacing is great, you are enthralled by the mystery wanting so desperately to have the answers, and the story is incredible especially in its original and creative presentation. Suffice to say, the entire production and every facet of the film making process is exactly how you would imagine a legend to be. I don't throw around 10/10 ratings often, but this time it's rightfully deserved. If you haven't watched this film yet, you're seriously missing out. I know it may sound like I'm overly hyping it, but once in a long while a film does measure up to its hype. I cannot recommend checking this one out any more strongly.

Notable Moment: At the end when Teddy is explaining everything. You truly feel Leonard's anguish as he realizes his memory is incorrect. Or you can subsequently choose to believe Teddy is lying, and we can never know the truth. Ahh this is why I love this movie!

Final Rating: 10/10