Memento was director Christoper Nolan’s breakthrough movie. You may know him from directing such movies as Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy. Memento is low budget psychological thriller. It’s high concept is that it’s told backwards.
Nolan has done other high concept movies on bigger budgets. I think he pulls this high concept as well as any other. The low budget actually helps the film’s look and concept.
The Set-Up
Leonard (Guy Pearce) is a man who has no short-term memories. He can’t make any new memories at all and the last thing he remembers is his wife being raped and killed. The killer was a man Leonard only knows is named John G. He has created many routines and instructions for himself so he can keep his life in order. He has tattooed clues about the case all over his body and spends the majority of his days looking for John G.
During his investigation he meets Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) , an undercover cop who may be helping him or may just be using him. He also meets Natalie (Carrie Ann-Moss), a bartender whose drug-dealer boyfriend has disappeared. She also may be helping him, using him for her own gain, or both.
The movie starts with a shooting and then it goes backwards one scene at time to explain how the shooting came about. It’s also intercut with a phone conversation that Leonard is having in his hotel room that’s moving forward in time chronologically. The reverse time chronology and backwards time chronology eventually overlap.
Why It’s Great
The playing with the chronology of events and telling the story backwards is a gimmick, but it’s a gimmick that works. Each scene is a chunk of time that Leonard can remember because of his short-term memory limitations. And even though the story is told backwards the arc of Leonard’s character follows the film’s narrative. So to does the multiple reveals of the other player’s motivations and what’s really going on.
This movie is fun because it’s like a puzzle. Each time you watch it you notice another detail or two and have a better understanding of what’s happening overall. It’s also an interesting enough movie that you can watch it multiple times without getting burned out on it.
The movie really makes you think about memory and how we manipulate it for various reasons. And how we may give ourselves artificial limitations. Leonard decides to believe in a few memories, referring to them as “fact” even though some of them are lies. Leonard claims he can’t make new memories, but he seems to be able to remember his “facts” even without his tattoos and notes. Do we manipulate our memories to make ourselves look or feel better? Do we give ourselves artificial limitations to make life easier?
This can be a heavy movie. If you’re in the mood for a psychological thriller that makes you contemplate questions about memory and identity this movie is perfect. If you just want to turn your brain off and relax this is not the movie for you. If you like Nolan’s other brain-teasing work like Inception and Interstellar you’ll probably like this movie. If you don’t, you will probably hate it.