"I have this condition," is what Leonard Shelby tells everyone he meets, whether he has met them before or not. He can't remember if he has. You see, Leonard has this condition -- he is incapable of forming new memories, and the memories he does form, he forgets in 15 minutes. Oh, and one other thing: Leonard sustained a head injury while intervening in his wife's murder.
He is in pursuit of the killer, but the task is severely hampered by the fact that he quickly forgets all the clues he has discovered.
Chris Nolan's Memento stars Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) as an insurance investigator who wants to avenge his wife's death. He quickly learns that writing down clues will not help him, because in a span of 15 minutes, he will soon forget their purpose and origin. He then decides to tattoo his body with clues about possible suspects, and takes Polaroids of every person he meets, writing names under pictures and useful tidbits on the back. Although he will soon forget who they are and what they are helping him with, he will have the pictures to help him learn all over again.
Every morning, Leonard wakes up confused in the motel room of a generic town, reaching for the wife that is not beside him. His last memory is of his wife being raped and murdered. Then, he wanders over to the mirror beside the bed and sees the tattoos on his chest, reminding him all over again of his purpose.
Leonard must also deal with a man named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), a sly character who volunteers to help him find the murderer. Every time Leonard "meets" Teddy, he looks at his Polaroid with the inscription, "don't believe his lies." Although he can't remember why or when he wrote this, Leonard knows that his pictures are permanent and trustworthy accounts of what he has learned.
The direction by Chris Nolan brilliantly accentuates the perplexing nature of the story. The movie actually starts in reverse chronological order - showing the final scene first and the first scene last. At first, scenes flow randomly and incomprehensibly, and the viewer has little grasp of one scene's purpose until another scene explains how the last began. But the order of scenes and the puzzling directing make viewers feel as if they have a memory problem themselves.
The film's acting is also first class. Pearce is endearing and admirable as a loving husband trying to avenge his wife's murder. His character isn't a self-pitying mess, but a no-nonsense man searching for the truth. Carrie-Anne Moss stars as a woman who tries to help Leonard find the killer. The blurb on her Polaroid: "She has also lost someone. She will help you out of pity." Pantoliano is great as the sleazy friend allegedly trying to help Leonard.
Memento is one of the few movies worth watching during this dismal film season. The movie's sense of disorientation is heightened by Nolan's ingenious direction, and it helps the audience empathize with Leonard. The story is innovative, and the plot simultaneously captivating and ambiguous, with shocking twists and an unexpected ending.
