Memento (2000) Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky, Harriet Sansom Harris, Callum Keith Rennie, Jorja Fox. Screenplay by Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Jonathan Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. 113 minutes. Rated R, 4 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Edward+Johnson-Ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to ejohnsonott@prodigy.net or e-mail ejohnsonott-subscribe@onelist.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
Leonard Shelby can't make new memories. He shares this fact with each person he meets, then shares it all over again the next time he sees them, because he doesn't remember the previous encounter. Then he shares it all over again the next time he sees them, because he doesn't remember the previous encounter. Leonard's long term memory is fine, but brain damage destroyed his ability to retain anything new. So he lives in a perpetual state of now, propelled by one overwhelming need.
Leonard Shelby is on a blood quest. His injury occurred during an attack that took the life of his wife, the last event he remembers. Leonard is determined to find and exact revenge on the man that raped and murdered her.
Leonard Shelby is methodical. A former insurance investigator, he devises methods to work around his disability. He takes Polaroid snapshots of significant people and places and writes notes to himself on the photos. When he decides a piece of information is vital, he tattoos it on his body. Leonard is a walking notepad of cues and clues, of grief and hate.
Leonard Shelby is not working alone. A bartender named Natalie helps him. He keeps her annotated photo with him at all times. The other significant figure in Leonard's minute by minute existence is Teddy, who pops up everywhere to offer advice.
"Memento" presents Leonard's story in reverse, beginning at the end and jerking, one extended scene at a time, backwards in time to the start. This presentation style works very well, showing us a consequence and then the action that preceded it. Peeling away a layer at a time, the genesis of his perpetual nightmare gradually becomes clear. To us, that is, but not Leonard.
Leonard Shelby has a tattoo on his hand that says, "Remember Sammy Jankis." Sammy also suffered from a lack of short-term memory and Leonard was the agent assigned to his case. The events in Sammy's life are intercut throughout the film in black and white fragments that move in standard chronological order. There is something for Leonard to learn from this.
By using two sets of timelines, writer and director Christopher Nolan throws us into a state of confusion; nothing as severe as Leonard's, but enough to make us relate. Leonard's situation poses some disturbing questions about the relationship between memory and one's sense of self. Who hasn't experienced discomfort trying to recall a forgotten fact? Who hasn't tried to cover a small sense of panic when they bump into a person they vaguely remember, but can't quite place?
Then there is Alzheimer's disease, which terrifies us. We watch afflicted loved ones suffer as the information they hold most precious slips away, throwing them into a nightmarish state of continual disorientation, and we fear the same may someday happen to us. It forces us to look at what constitutes identity. Are we the sum of our memories and, if so, how many memories can a soul lose before the sense of self disappears as well?
Scary stuff, isn't it?
"Memento" is an ingenuous, disquieting thriller aided by unusual rhythms and a first-rate cast. In the lead role, Aussie actor Guy Pearce, best known as the straight arrow cop in "L.A. Confidential," adds the perfect shadings to his character. His Leonard retains the investigative skills from his pre-accident days and, as any good detective would do, hides his ignorance with a mask of knowing confidence. Leonard is at once a grieving husband, a lost child, a dogged sleuth and an obsessed threat, and the underrated Pearce effectively conveys all of those qualities.
Carrie-Ann Moss, who burst into the public eye as a cool warrior in "The Matrix," is striking as Natalie, revealing a bit more of the complex woman with each new scene. Best remembered as the pesky insurance salesman in "Groundhog Day," Stephen Tobolowsky is credible and touching as memory-loss victim Sammy Jankis. In the pivotal role of Teddy, Joe Pantoliano glides from sincere to smarmy and back again with the greatest of ease. Pantoliano has played similar types in everything from "The Matrix" to "The Sopranos," but he remains a pleasure to watch. Funny thing about this guy: No matter what he is doing, he always appears to be popping his teeth on a stick of chewing gum.
Like "The Sixth Sense" and "The Matrix," "Memento" is a strongly acted and neatly constructed puzzle movie, but the comparison ends there. Whether viewed as an existential exercise or just a snappy thriller, this is a true original. In a year that has so far brought a numbing collection of vapid big screen retreads, it stands out even more.
© 2001 Ed Johnson-Ott
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