Memento | Movie Review

MEMENTO
Year: 2000
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

NATHAN:
       Leonard Shelby looses his short term memory after the tragic death of his wife, but as he tries to find and kill the man that murdered her, it becomes harder and harder for him to remember who to trust.

       Within the first few sequences of Memento I was intrigued. Showing images in reverse always catches my attention so when this film started with that, I knew this movie is one I’m going to want to see the rest of.
       I really liked (and I think Megan did too) one of Christopher Nolan’s first films, the 1997 black & white “Following” its also a must see by him. Of course we all know him for the Batman movies too.
       “Just because I don’t remember it, doesn’t make my actions meaningless…memories are just and interpretation” –Leonard Shelby. This saying is a lot like how I see film making, it’s all about interpretation of everyone involved whether you’re the creator or the audience. I haven’t seen a film like this before. There was such a big impact without a new style of camera movements and special effects. It had the feeling of a shot story documentary of Leonard Shelby, probably because it was written as a short story first. Memento is a good example of real story telling in “reverse” without all the fluff.
You, like Leonard, find it hard to trust even the smallest character is this movie. His frustration is relatable as you start to feel what he does. Leonard’s recreating of his wife’s presence in the hotel is hard for the viewer to watch, you just feel bad for him. It would be odd, having your feeling carried over when memories don’t. You would always have to be frustrated not knowing why you feel a particular way. To get through life Leonard does what many of us today in real life, we fake what people think we should have already known.
       Memento is a film about revenge but always a film that takes a deeper look into what a memory really is. Memories having a hazy in between area, maybe represented by the use of color during the death scenes of his wife. How and what you take from this movie all depends on who you believe and what characters you decide to trust.

P.S. I think the suit fit Leonard better.

MEGAN:

        I have seen Memento twice. The first time was right after it was released on DVD and I rented it. I don’t remember much about the first time other than I liked it enough to buy it soon after. Nathan and I knew each other at this time, but were just friends and one night when we were hanging out he asked if I had seen it and when I told him yes…and that I owned it, he was actually surprised. He then proceeded to tell me that I needed to watch another movie by Christopher Nolan if I liked Memento. This movie was The Following. I know my review is not about this movie, but just a side note: I really liked The Following and would suggest you watch it!

       Ok, now back to Memento. Like I said I originally liked this movie enough to buy it. When it was time to do this contest and review it though I didn’t feel confident that I could remember enough about it to right very good comments. So I prepared a second viewing with just the intention of reviewing the movie and taking notes.

        Pen and paper in hand, time set aside for movie, Nathan actually home and also with time set aside to watch movie, and we were ready to watch Memento. Things started off normal; I started to remember how the movie was filmed and scripted out. The whole movie is compiled of few minute segments that show how the previous segment started. I’m not sure that makes a lot of sense how I wrote it, but basically it tells the story backwards. And since you don’t watch the movie in rewind instead you see the end of the story first. Then the next segment shows you a few minutes leading up to the ending, and the next segment shows the few minutes before that, and so on until you get to the beginning of the story.

       One of the first shots in the film is of a Polaroid picture developing backwards. This is a perfect example of the setting for the movie. There is a reason for this way of telling the story. The main character, Leonard, cannot make new memories, or no short term memory, but can remember everything up to a trauma that happened to him a few years before. Watching a movie in this set up gives the viewer the same kind of disoriented feeling as you imagine Leonard might feel trying to solve the mystery the plot is about.

The actual ending of the movie is definitely a plot twist, but makes you think. Are our memories really reliable? I definitely doubt mine, especially after seeing the movie. How reliable are the “facts” we think we know?

I didn’t enjoy the movie as much the second time as I did the first. The majority of the beginning didn’t hold my attention as much as I remember from the first time. This just goes to show that mood, setting, and things going on around you can really change your interpretations and reactions to something. Both times I watched though the ending made up for lack of interest I might have had.

The movie is original, and written, in my opinion, extremely well. I do enjoy that it makes you think while watching; I appreciate that in any film. I would say most people should watch it just because of the “different” factor it has.