Review: Memento (2000)

After watching The Usual Suspects a while ago, I put the feelers out on the IMDB boards for suggestions of films with a similar, plot-twist theme. I love these kind of movies, ones where you have to really sit and think, but you definitely have to be in the right mood to put one on. Memento was suggested to me, and I noticed that it's also in the IMDB Top 250 list, so I couldn't say no.

Memento (2000) is a mind bending film about Leonard (Guy Pearce) who suffers from short-term memory loss. He's on a self-given mission to find the man who murdered his wife, which, given his condition, is a near impossible task.

He writes himself notes constantly to remind him of things he's been told, and takes photos of places that he;s visited and people he has met to remind himself who they are, and whether they are trust worthy or not. He also tattoos the key facts he learns about his wife's murder on his body.

I just love how this film is sequenced. In the opening scene, we see Leonard kill a man called Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) who he believes is the 'John G' he's been looking for. Doubt gets put into your mind instantly because either this John G is a very good liar, or there's a fair chance Leonard has caught the wrong man.

The rest of the film plays almost in reverse; the next five minutes or so of footage ends where the previous part began. It really confused me at first but after a while my head got round it. I've never seen a film like it before so it was a great experience.

This Teddy turns out to be a main character in Memento, as well as a lady named Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss). They both seem to be trying to turn Leonard against the other, although it's not clear what the link between Teddy and Natalie is. Throughout the story we also get another timeline running through of Leonard on the phone to somebody talking about Sammy Jankis.

Leonard has a tattoo on his arm telling him to 'Remember Sammy Jankis', and he talks in great details about the insurance case that he was involved in before his accident. These scenes threw me off a little every time, just when I thought I was working out what was going on.

Just when I thought I was never going to work out what was happening, the twist came and threw me completely. There was even a huge hint at it which I thought I saw but completely dis-regarded it. I have to say, it was a brilliant twist, although really quite saddening.

Memento was a fantastic film experience for me, and I'm definitely going to see it again sometime. Apparently there's a special edition DVD you can get where you can watch the film in exact chronological order - that would be a real treat to see!