Review of Memento (2000) by Richard C — 18 Feb 2013

Everyone generally has a morning routine; wake up, shower, get dressed, and go to work or class. Imagine this regular happening being disrupted by seeing yourself in the mirror 20 years older than you remember. It would freak most people out. This can be exactly what happens to people who suffer from anterograde amnesia-damage to parts of the brain related to memory. This disorder can cause people to lose the capability of forming new memories; most whom have anterograde amnesia don't know it. In Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, Leonard contracts anterograde amnesia from a tragic accident. The film has phenomenal acting; it has a format similar to a Tarantino movie, but creates a plot with a main character whose originality has never been seen before. If you can follow the movie's disorienting plot, it is a worthwhile to see. However, if you lack an attention span, stay away.

Leonard is characterized by three things: he speaks on the phone with an anonymous stranger, his old memories, and his new "system" for living with anterograde amnesia. It would be nearly impossible (if not impossible) to live without forming new memories. Leonard has a system of leaving notes for himself and he keeps pictures of people he meets. There are tattoos all over his body so he can remember why he is still carrying on: to kill the low-life drug dealer that raped and murdered his wife before injuring him, causing his anterograde amnesia. His last, and unfortunate, memory is seeing his wife murdered. Natalie is a woman whom Leonard helped with an issue of her own. Natalie is now helping him search for the one he's after, John Gammel. Leonard is constantly around this man; the problem is he thinks John's name is Teddy. Teddy is trying to "help" Leonard claiming he is a cop.

It appears Teddy manipulates Leonard, which would be pretty easy to do to someone who won't remember anything. This movie created a scientifically accurate character of someone who has anterograde amnesia. Leonard doesn't remember the same people over and over again, he is in a confused state pretty much all of the time, and he forgets simple things like what he was doing ten minutes ago. It's a hard role to play, but Guy Pearce smashes it. Natalie and Teddy (John G.) are both dynamic characters. Their roles change dramatically through the story. It is hard to follow, but the phenomenal acting aids in the ingenious plot.

The movie starts with the end and the beginning. It uses a double sequence to meet in the middle; one sequence is in black and white and the other is in color. The black and white sequence is chronological. The color scenes are not ordered forward in time; they start with the end scene and move backwards scene by scene. The technique almost shouts "Quinton Tarantino!" I kept thinking about the movie Reservoir Dogs (ironically Netflix recommended it after). Tarantino's twists on time create better clarity than Nolan's. The sequence wasn't very original, and it was rather confusing. I watched the movie twice; it didn't make complete sense the first time. The double sequence is confusing; you have to separate what happened in the past and the future in your head. Tarantino makes it blatantly obvious where scenes are in time when they're out of chronological order. It isn't always clear who's who when the characters talk about Teddy and John G. (when in actuality they are the same person). This is not a movie to lie down and veg out to. If you want to sit down and have your mind blown by a psychological thriller, then this is for you. Just make sure to have lots of caffeine and zero distractions or else you'll waste your time.

If you do watch the movie and give it your full attention, it will be worth your while. The acting is great and the plot is superb. It feels kind of like a pull off of a Tarantino flick, but that's no reason not to see it. The character Leonardo intrigues the viewer; he's a character that's never been seen before. Memento is confusing and hard to follow, but it truly is a work of art.