Director, Christopher Nolan has put something so mysterious and genius together that he deserves praises from Hitchcock himself. Memento deals with memory loss, not only with its main character, but with the audience also. We have to remember almost every intimate detail in this fine yarn to understand as much of Leonard's life as possible. Leonard (Guy Pearce) has had his wife murdered, and in the midst of the killing, he tries to save his wife, and he gets a hit on the head that causes him to have a memory disability. That disability is not being able to make any new memories. With this disability, he has to track down the killer of his wife. The story is told backwards, but it is not a killer when it comes to trying to understand the backward plot. If we see something we don't understand, within ten to fifteen minutes, we have figured it out because each scene ends how the previous one began. The backwards structure of the film gives us a feel for what it is like to be Leonard, and not know what happened ten minutes ago in time because we have not been shown yet. Pearce and the entire cast give good performances, especially Carrie Ann Moss who was Neo's lover in "The Matrix". In "The Matrix" she was good, but in "Memento", she is absolutely flawless, excellent in every line she says. She will make you hate her character or love her character, whatever the script calls for. She would take a win or definitely a nomination in my best supporting actress category along with Jennifer Connely (If I had a category). Joe Palantonio also succeeds in the role of being Leonard's friend. Pearce makes us really believe he has a memory disorder, which is a formidable task. His performance is believable enough that we can somewhat sympathize with him throughout. The script and the direction, both by Nolan, are ground breaking. Christopher Nolan has made an excellent impression on me and I'm greatly anticipating his next outing as a director. The way he edits the film together will probably win the academy award for best film editing. Although I found some parts slow moving (not attributed to the editing, but to the pauses in conversation and thought), and the film not quite as engrossing as it should have been (Hitchcock�s were just a notch above this), the film deserves three and a half stars for its unconventionality, great cast, and editing. Memento deserves its R rating, and at times was extremely hard for me to sit through with its extreme profanity and violence. I'd recommend you see this film with a cuss filter, and you will enjoy it much more and won't flinch when the F bomb is inserted into the powerful script. There is also a bit of graphic violence in the film, but it is not gratuitous. Too bad it seems like the best quality films are mostly R's or display content that is very objectionable to Christians. Nevertheless, this is one of the better films of the year, and shouldn't be missed by anyone who can strain their brain for an hour or two. |
| Memento |
| United States, 2000 U.S. Release Date: beginning 3/16/01 (limited) Running Length: 1:53 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity, drugs) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky, Harriet Sansom Harris, Callum Keith Rennie, Jorja Fox Director: Christopher Nolan Producers: Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Jonathan Nolan Cinematography: Wally Pfister Music: David Julyan U.S. Distributor: Newmarket Capital Group |
| ***1/2stars |