Memento

Rating:
Summary: A haunting, intelligent thriller
Review: The premise of the film "Memento" is brilliant: Leonard, the main character (played by Guy Pearce) has suffered a tragic brain injury which has virtually destroyed his short-term memory. He can remember things that happened and facts he learned before the injury, but he is unable to retain new memories of anything that has happened since the injury. Anyone he meets is forgotten by the time he sees them again; if remains too long in one place, he will have forgotten why or how he came there in the first place. He must rely on a system of memory aids to help him function on a daily basis. With this devastating disability, he finds himself in the midst of a mystery involving murder and desired revenge.

Director Guy Nolan tells the story in reverse, with some flashback sequences thrown in to further complicate the film's chronology. This device works brilliantly; the viewer is subject to a disorientation that mirrors Leonard's plight.

Pearce is riveting in the harrowing role of Leonard. The sight of Pearce's sinewy body covered with ominous tattoos (used to help his character remember essential facts) is truly a remarkable, disturbing image. Solid supporting performances are turned in by Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano.

Nolan attains real moments of suspense and oppressive horror as the story unfolds. But beyond being a good thriller, "Memento" also touches on more profound issues of memory, loss, exploitation, honesty, and the need for a purpose to give one's life meaning. Overall, a unique and intelligent crime drama.

Rating:
Summary: A twist on something we rely on most...memory
Review: Leonard Shelby's life's mission--finding his wife's killer--is the one thing that drives him, that keeps him living. Raped and murdered by an unknown assailant, memories of her and her death haunt Leonard every minute, of every hour, of every day.

The catch? These are Leonard's last memories.

Leonard, a former insurance investigator, interrupted the attack on his wife, suffering a serious head wound and rendering him unable to create new memories--hence, every ten or fifteen minutes, he is back at square one. Notes, polaroid snapshots, and tattoos on his body serve as his new 'memory.' Teddy, a jovial cop, and Natalie, a low-key barmaid, seem to want to help Leonard...or do they wish to manipulate his condition for their own purposes?

The story is told more or less in reverse through Leonard's eyes, and Leornard's story is paralleled with flashbacks of his wife and of a former client with the same condition. A wonderful weave of fact and what our minds trick us to believe as fact, this movie will not disappoint, nor does it let the viewer leave the movie behind when leaving the theatre. I suggest bringing a notebook--it's a thinker.

Rating:
Summary: This is what I got to the movies for
Review: WOWZA! This is one hell of an innovative movie. Guy Pearce plays Lennie, a man whose wife was murdered in a home invasion. One intruder was killed, but Lennie is sure a second one was there, as he was hit in the head from behind. The injury to his head leaves him with the inability to form new short term memories from that point on. All he has to go on is the name "John G.", and the notes he makes to himself on Polaroids and on his body in bizarre tattoos. This movies strength is not the plot, which is hardly special, but it's presentation. The movie is told in brief segments that move in reverse order, with every scene setting the stage for what already happened on screen. This high concept works very well. Who can you trust if you can't remember who has wronged you? This fascinating movie warrants a second look. Can we already reserve a slot at the Oscars for Pearce?

Rating:
Summary: A crime thriller that REALLY delivers the thrills.
Review: Director Christopher Nolan has created a real tour de force with "Memento." Through the expedient of telling the story bit by bit in backward increments, he not only replicates the bewilderment of the main character--a detective with short-term memory loss--but also keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, delivering a deliciously nasty surprise every minute. Leonard Shelby, the detective, is looking for the man who raped and murdered his wife; unfortunately, the same man clubbed him over the head, creating brain damage that prevents Leonard from holding any new memory for more than ten minutes. To remember clues, Leonard must write himself endless notes and take dozens of Polaroid pictures; the really important clues he has tattooed on his body, in various Gothic scripts. Helping him (or perhaps not) are Teddy and Natalie, two seedy, suspiciously friendly denizens of the Los Angeles underworld. To say anything more about the plot to ANYONE who hasn't seen the movie should be punishable by firing squad; suffice it to say that fans of crime thrillers will be more than satisfied with this movie, and find themselves thinking about it for days afterward. I must also add that Guy Pearce as Leonard, Carrie-Anne Moss as Natalie and Joe Pantoliano as Teddy give performances that are absolute perfection.

Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: To be honest, I went into this movie not knowing what it was about, only that it was different from most movies. And boy is it ever. I have never thought so much or so hard about a movie upon exit from the theatre than I did with Memento.

The story centers around Leonard, a man who suffers from short-term memory loss due to a head trauma he received while he was attempting to stop a killer from raping and murdering his wife. He remembers everything up to and including the murder, but from then on is unable to form new memories. So basically, in order to remember what he's doing at any particular moment, he has to take pictures and write captions on them. He then sets out on a crusade to find and kill the murderer. He does this with his pictures, and also some tattoos that he applies to himself to remind him of the 'facts' of the case.

The story is presented in such an unusual way that even if the movie hadn't been so great, I still would've enjoyed it. The film is broken up into several different vignettes, each one's ending tying into the beginning of the previous one. Sound confusing? Sure is. Confusion is the very essence of this movie that makes it so great. It's meant to give the viewer a feel for what Leonard, the film's main protagonist, experiences all the time. There are great character parallels (having to do with one of the film's subplots) and the performances by Guy Pearce and Carrie Anne Moss are stellar. You really get a feel for the very hopelessness of Leonard's life and how important direction and purpose, or lack there of really is.

**However, there is a loophole in the plot that makes everything work smoothly. That is: How does he know about his condition if the last thing he remembers is his wife being murdered? The loophole doesn't detract from the greatness of the movie, however, but I just thought it necessary to mention it.

Rating:
Summary: A Criss Cross Hyped Up Movie
Review: This movie is the best movie I've seen in my life!!! With its original and weird direction this movie starts from the end and moves to the begining while at the same time it starts from the begining and moves forward to the end. With an amazing plot of a detective suffering a rare condition of a short term memory loss caused when he walked in on two men raping and murdering his wife. He then dedicates his life to avenge her death without the possibility of remembering what he had done 5 minutes ago.

Rating:
Summary: The way a movie should be
Review: A movie that plays with your mind, your heart and reality itself, Memento serves as one of the best films of 2001. In this stark, complex and intensely emotional movie that yet stays away from sentimentality, the viewer is thrown into a film that will mess with your mind and possibly make it more well-deserved money when you need to see it again to figure it all out.

Guy Pierce plays Leonard, who has lost his ability to keep any short term memory. We follow him as he traces the Polariod clues and hastily written notes to tell him what to do next. Reminding people often that "I have this condition..." and even wondering in the middle of a chase scene whether he is being chased or if he is chasing someone else, the movie is as funny as it is painful as we watch this man struggle to solve the crime of the rape and murder of his wife. Sadly, it is that incident which also led to his own condition.

Go to this movie with both eyes open and a clear head, because it starts at the end and ends at the beginning. Whereas Seinfeld once made it a joke to do a half-hour episode backward, Memento makes it jarring and fascinating at the same time.

The ending (or shall I say beginning?) makes you walk out of the theatre with your head between your hands crying "good grief, that was SO wild!" I love that. If you are looking for a disturbing, sad, funny, complex, and suspenseful movie, it's all here.

Watch and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: If only i had a short term memory disorder....
Review: This film was a waste of talent. The story got so conveluted by cutting into the pesent and the past, and by cutting the scenes that show the audience what was happening were to many and off topic(Whats the point with the hooker?, and the many references to a guy the main character investigated, every five minutes they flashed back to this man). Rent it at best.

Rating:
Summary: A mind bender
Review: This is a movie that would probably fit the category of film noir. It is dark, it has twists that you really don't see comming, even if the whole thing is told backwards. It will make you wonder if you can ever trust your own memory again. The acting is marvelous. This is Guy Pearce at probably his best since LA Confidential. Carrie Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano( both from the Matrix, he most recently in The Sopranos) are superb. Your instincts tell you as you go along to not trust anyone, just as Leonard does, as he tries to solve the murder of his wife. The begining of the film is what would normaly be the end.There will be a scene, and then it backs up to tell you how the film and Leonard got to that point. This is a very creative film, by first time director Christopher Nolan. His brother wrote the story that this is based on. As I said earlier, in a film like this, you learn not to trust anybody, even the main character because you don't know what could happen or what did happen in the past. I can't wait for the dvd to watch again and even maybe watch it in the right order to see if it makes even more sense. Brilliantly done!

Rating:
Summary: Innovative approach to a stock whodunit
Review: In MEMENTO, Leonard is out to find, and kill, the man who murdered his wife in a home invasion assault. Seems simple enough, right? Almost too run-of-the-mill to pay hard-earned money to see. Think again.

During the same attack that resulted in his wife's death, Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, suffered a blow to the head that eliminated his ability to construct short term memories. He searches for his quarry guided by notes to himself that he's had tattooed on his body - sort of like the wife's birthday or wedding anniversary dates the Forgetful Husband might write on the back of his hand to avoid Big Trouble - and the helpful hints he inscribes on the back of the Polaroid photos of people he encounters during his pursuit. OK, that's cool. But still not in the sit-up-and-take-notice category.

What really makes this movie fiendishly clever is that the storyline is presented in reverse. It's like the film, created in a normal beginning to end sequence, was chopped into 5-minute segments, then the pieces spliced back together with the beginning of the last sequence now the opening, followed by the second-to-last sequence, and so on. One doesn't dare leave the performance long enough to get popcorn or go to the bathroom, or the vital connections between sequences will be missed.

There are also wonderful performances by Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano as damsel-in-distress Natalie and good buddy Teddy respectively. According to the back of Leonard's Polaroid snap of each, Natalie will help him out of pity because she's lost someone too, and not to trust anything Teddy says. But who are they really, and what are their real motivations?

The reverse exhibition is the director's tool to keep the audience mentally off balance, much as Leonard is constantly mentally off balance, though in a different way. Though I wouldn't recommend this display format for a plot of greater complexity, MEMENTO is one of those movies, rare in an era of brainless thrillers, where the audience will leave talking to itself, especially after the plot twist at the end. Or is it the beginning? Well, whatever. Good show!