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Too talky, but interesting. The ending, though a complete deus ex machina—robbing the narrative of all force—feels both tragic and hopeful, which gives itself power: it says that we have to lie to ourselves to keep living, fashion a personality for ourselves because we can never be ourselves, or there is no true self; but it also says that if we are stuck in shitty situation we can lie to ourselves, reframe it by becoming someone else/redefining the bad in a new way, as something good.

Christopher Nolan’s Memento is a near-perfect psychological puzzle. This modern film noir is told in backwards and in stops and starts. Scenes appear in reverse chronological order then move forward again, presenting information that is useless until another parcel of the plot is supplied. Nolan makes the chronological scene shifting an effective way to unfold what is essentially a misguided murder mystery where the hero may or may not know that his facts are not really the facts. In virtually every scene, Pearce gives a compelling, nervy performance as the man who is haplessly fanatical about his mission yet so incapable of making the decisions he needs to make. How the threads of the story are unraveled and reorganized is an impressive feat of logic minding and script continuity. This technical ploy demands the audience’s vigilance yet, in true film noir form, doesn’t reward it. In the end, it is the way the tale is told that is memorable, not the story itself.

Christopher Nolan is on top of the world right now with “Inception”, but go back ten years and he was doing similar experiments with memory, time, and narrative with this mesmerizing head-scratcher, only now, thanks in part to the accolades earned here, his budget and production schedule isn’t as restricted as it was a decade ago.

The plot is relatively simple; a man with short term memory loss (Guy Pearce, in a star turn) is struggling to put the pieces of his wife’s murder together so he can enact his revenge, the trouble is, he can’t remember twenty minutes ago, let alone volumes and volumes of crucial information. Which leads us to what makes the film so groundbreaking and engrossing, Nolan’s complex structure, in which Pearce pieces everything together through Polaroids, notes, body tattoos, and physical intuition, setting up each scenario with a conclusion, and then working backwards to deliver the narrative, putting out spare bits of info, daring the viewer to conclude on what is important, and what may be a lie. If ever there was a movie that literally puts you into the head space of it’s main character, this is it.

It’s dizzying, for sure, but rewarding, and holds up under scrutiny and multiple viewings.

Probably one of my favorite movies of all time. There is nothing I don’t like about this movie. The visual style is amazing, extremely surreal and empty. The acting is just incredible, Guy Pearce just really gave it his all on this and it really shows. The storytelling is unique and unlike any other. It’s a complete mind game that doesn’t fit together until the very end. I also liked that it managed to keep you guessing, nowhere near predictable.

It is one of Christopher Nolan’s best films. A thriller with a character whose not your type of character for thrillers. He has short-term memory loss, so the only way to remember is take polaroid photos/notes/tattoos.

Based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan (who will later co-write screenplays with his brother for The Prestige and The Dark Knight), and stars Guy Pearce in one of his most interesting performances in his career. Weird having, coincidentally, Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss in the film when a year earlier made the sci-fi cult classic, The Matrix. But they all make really good performances.

What this film is known for is the narrative; the scenes in colour are told backward and the scenes in black & white are told from the beginning. The first viewing is always an experience to remember, and makes you want a second viewing to further understand the story.

What I always remember from this film is Christopher Nolan’s brilliantly written dialogue. Especially the scene where Leonard (Guy Pearce) is lying in bed, and talks about how he’d like to remember his wife and have her back but knows he’s been alone. “So how I can heal? How am I supposed to heal if I can’t. . . . feel time?”, much deserved to have been nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar! David Julyan’s music is rightly balanced, and goes with the tone of the story and the events happening in the film.

Overall, a terrific thriller. Simple, but edited to make it more interesting and gripping.

How’d they pull this off? A story told in reverse. Well, they did. And it’s a modern masterpiece. Gritty and urban. "Memories can be distorted. They’re just an interpretation, they’re not a record, and they’re irrelevant if you have the facts. " “I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there. Do I believe the world’s still there? Is it still out there?…”