Rating: 10/10
Review date: May 5, 2002
Memento is undoubtedly one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my whole life. There’s not much to say about the storyline aside from that the less you know, the better you will be in appreciating the movie from this aspect.
Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers from short term memory loss meaning he can’t remember anything for more than a few moments. While suffering this condition, he has to find the person who raped and murdered his wife…
The acting from Guy Pearce is just top-notch here as from the beginning to the end, I was totally mesmerized by his character. The way he displayed the gullibility and expression of a man who suffers from such condition is wonderful throughout the movie. Now I know what you will say, how could he try to find a murderer if he can’t even remember anything for a few moments?
The answer is simple, you have to watch the movie yourself to find out. I won’t spoil anything in this review because it would have greatly reduce the main drive of the movie which is the storyline and the ambiguity that the audience would be experiencing as the story slowly reveals itself from Leonard’s limited point of view.
The directing of the movie is excellent as the movie wouldn’t have been so good if Christopher Nolan hadn’t ingeniously told the story from a very different perspective as opposed to flashbacks or your average forward unfolding of a movie. Don’t worry too much about it for now; you will understand when you see it yourself.
The only way to enjoy this movie will be to sit tight and keep your eyes on the screen at all times and try not to blink. In order to understand the movie, you NEED (and I emphasize this) to devote your full concentration but even so, I doubt anyone will be able to understand the whole movie thoroughly in their first viewing. Memento is a movie that needs to be re-watched again and again in order for one to be able to appreciate the ingenuity of the director and the script writer that will keep you guessing until the end.
Personally after watching this, I quickly called up a friend and discuss the movie with him. Even then, we still don’t understand some aspects of the story. Only after watching it for the second and third times, I have the courage to say that I finally can put and end to the discussion.
I would recommend you to watch this movie with someone so you can discuss it with he/she when the credits begin to roll. Believe me, you will wish you have someone to discuss it with when that happens.
Memorable quote: “The world doesn’t just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?”
-Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby-
(c) 2002 Martin Taidy