thecelebritycafe.com: Movie Review - Memento

Unusual thriller tells story backwards, with a twist at the “beginning“.

What would it be like to never know what you just did? This theoretical premise is Leonard’s life. He lost his short-time memory, and now struggles with finding his wife’s killer while coping with his disability. His life is a series of moments by themselves, since he doesn’t remember what brought him there or what just happened.

In a desperate attempt to make sense of the world, Leonard organizes it by writing information on post-its, taking pictures of everyone he meets, and even tattooing the most important things (“Find him and kill him”, in respect to his wife’s killer) onto every part of his body, until he starts looking like a bizarre notepad.

Leonard is in a constant state of insecurity, disorientation and desperation. He never knows whom he can trust and who is taking advantage of him. In a genius twist, Director Christopher Nolan puts the audience in the same spot by putting the movie’s sequences in reverse order and telling the end of the story first. At the beginning of each scene, we are just as confused as the protagonist, since we don’t (yet) know what led up to it.

“Memento” certainly requires a lot of attention on the viewer’s part to be adequately enjoyed. It is a totally different viewing experience: You have to find a way to orient yourself in a disorienting world.

But once you know how to watch it, there’s nary a movie that is more fun to watch. The audience slowly discovers the whole story, complete with a shocking plot twist at the end, uh, beginning.