MEMENTO Reviewed by Jerry Saravia May 25th, 2001
"I can't make new memories. Everything fades, nothing sticks. By the time we finish this conversation I won't remember how it started, and the next time I see you I won't know that I've ever met you before." - Leonard.
Thus, the above quotation says it all for "Memento," one of the most electrifying of all postmodern noir thrillers in years. Whereas "Run Lola Run" and "Pulp Fiction" revelled in irony, hipness and fractured timelines to tell their stories, "Memento" is a more eager return to what makes noir what it is - the purely existential. Martin Scorsese dared to go through such existential leaps minus the irony in "Bringing Out the Dead" as did Sean Penn in the brilliant "The Pledge." "Memento," though, will be remembered as the most disorienting and fatalistic of the new century, linking to the most frightening ordeal man could ever face, the inability to make new memories.
Such is the case with Leonard (Guy Pearce), a former insurance claims investi gator who suffers from a rare disorder defined as "anterior grade memory loss" (also known as Korsokoff's syndrome). You see Leonard can't make new memories and the only way he can remember anything is by writing it down or by tatooing his body with written messages. After a few minutes, if he fails to write down important information or clues (usually on a handy Polaroid he shoots of any person he meets), he will forget as if the incident had never occured.
At the beginning of the film, Leonard kills an unarmed man named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano). Teddy's murder seems cold-blooded and, like most noir films that deal with a central narrator (that being Leonard), we expect flashbacks to see what led up to this event. A strange thing happens, though, in "Memento." Rather than seeing typical flashbacks in a convential, linear fashion, the story is told backwards thus the ending of the film is really the beginning and the beginning of the film is really the ending. Now the audience is faced with the daunting task of keeping all the facts straight in their minds as the events unfold on screen. I did not find it daunting as much as challenging and this Harold Pinter approach serves the purpose of the film.
It would not be fair to reveal much of "Memento" because the thrill of the film is in its surprise factor. This much can be said about the plot: Leonard is investigating the death of his wife by some character named "John G." His investigation leads to a sour, sweetly morose barmaid, Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), who has gone through a similar loss and can help him out of pity. Naturally, as the film regresses, we learn Natalie is not quite the sour, kind woman we thought she was - your typical femme fatale. Then there's Teddy, the smiling cop or drug dealer (depending on your interpretation) who may be trying to help Leonard or may be trying to kill him. Add to the mix a local drug dealer, Leonard's memory of Sammy Jankis who supposedly suffered similar memory loss (and was part of Leonard's insurance claims), and co nstant betrayals and backstabbing ploys. There is also a motel clerk who is nonplussed to learn that Leonard never remembers any conversation they have had, and thus tries to jokingly cheat Leonard out of a better motel room. No one is ever what they seem in this morally ambiguous universe and by structuring the film backwards, we learn the evolution of each character through Leonard's point-of-view. This also serves a more finite attraction: when we learn new information about a character as the film regresses, we realize the character's prior behavior and begin to see that Leonard may have the wrong idea or wrong motive for his later actions. This nonlinear breakdown of the story will no doubt lead to further viewings just to keep the characters straight.
"Memento" has a great, meaty story but if it were not for the beautifully restrained performances from the cast, the film would not work the same way. Guy Pearce is fierce and alive in every scene he is in. He is vulnerable and yet impulsive, no doubt due to his constant memory loss. He is not quite your typical hero, more of a disillusioned antihero. In a sense, Pearce undergoes a rather strange dilemma - if he does not remember what a person had done to him, he can just easily hurt the person who may have tried to help him. The Polaroids and the tattoos are messages that could lead to dangerous avenues if he is not quick enough to jot down finite details. All he does remember is that he has a condition (though that often escapes him as well) and he knows his wife was raped and murdered and he is aware of his former job. But as the film comes to a surprisingly fatalistic finish, we also sense that Leonard may have mixed up certain facts or perhaps he is in denial about his own mysterious past. Pearce brings Leonard to life in such an intoxicating manner that he becomes something of a human mine - don't step on him or you will explode.
Carrie-Anne Moss gives her first truly great performance here as the mysterious, duplicitous Natalie, exuding both toughness and sincerity with equal aplomb. She has a memorably frightening moment where she takes advantage of Leonard's condition and taunts him. Joe Pantoliano (who co-starred with Moss in "The Matrix") gives one of his funniest, quixotic performances in years as Teddy, and his character remains as much an enigma as Leonard does. Teddy may seem trustworthy but could he be using Leonard as well?
Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" was a tale of divorce told backwards and probably the first to use such a complicated device. There was also the hilarious "Seinfeld" episode that was told backwards and succeeded in delivering its punchlines with more gusto than usual. But "Memento" uses a gimmicky device to its advantage. We, the audience, only know as much information as Leonard knows thus his short-term memory loss is accentuated by telling the story backwards, especially since he can't make new memories. When Leonard is unsure of something, so are we. When he is disoriented, so are we. It is rare for a noir tale like this to make us feel the internal anxieties and fears of its main character. Watching "Memento" is like enduring an endless nightmare where our memory is a constant illusion in search of the truth. In the case of Leonard, his search for the truth may be fruitless and all we are left with are mementos to remind us of his own journey.
For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at http://moviething.com/members/movies/faust/JATMindex.shtml
E-mail me with any questions, comments or complaints at Faust668@aol.com or at faustus_08520@yahoo.com
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