Review of Memento (2000) by Harry W — 15 Jun 2013

The key strength in Memento, the thing that makes it superior to many other psychological thrillers is the iconic story structure which makes it a compelling and unforgettable thriller.

Christopher Nolan displays some if his finest work on Memento, because the story, adapted from his brother's own short story and featuring an excellently compelling, clever and insightful screenplay, probes to be a truly clever one which stirs the audience up and has them questioning so many things, and the theme of whodunit, laid out in the atmosphere to engage the audience into feeling a sense of Neo-Noir excellence proves astoundingly effective and highly entertaining for the viewers and so it exceeds whatever already great expectations the viewer has been set up with.

The story is told so excellently in an iconic fashion which sets the story into play with scenes acting in reverse order at no expense, and it's a fresh idea to behold. Memento is like no other film because of its plot, the way it's told and the excellent way that Christopher Nolan handles himself with his duties. Memento is a solid film with a look into an alternative form of filmmaking, a great one.

But the thing that is most satisfying is the fact that Memento is better than it could have been, but didn't try to be want better than it was so it never became too complicated and burdened with extraneous plotlines and pointless extra characters. It maintained an immaculate line between simple and complicated, a line harder to find than the Loch Ness monster. The achievement of that in Memento is incredible.

And the entire screen is lit up by the charisma of Guy Pearce who lead the story excellently and controls himself as the film jumps from scene to scene, and his character cannot keep up with it as the audience can, and to see not how he develops as a character, but rather how he has developed as the story unravels, and witnessing it proves to be exhilarating and entertaining much in part thanks to Guy Pearce and his great performance. What's interesting is how his character develops alternatively to Joe Pantoliano.

Joe Pantoliano also gives a great performance and he is never one audience can be sure about in their predictions of which influences the whodunit atmosphere very finely, and his performance is a charming one, rich with fine line delivery and a generally friendly charm which keeps Memento from ever sinking into complete and utter darkness.

Carrie-Anne Moss was also great, because I've never seen her in anything outside of The Matrix, and in Memento her character is sinfully manipulative without losing any sophistication or character charm along the way, and there is never a certainty as to who her character is, and that supplies a valid mysterious sense to the atmosphere and proves entertaining.

So Memento is a stylish and provocative Neo-Noir Psychological Thriller which makes use of some of Christopher Nolan's finest work as a director and as a screenwriter which scores him a well deserved Academy Award nomination.