Year:
2001
Studio:
Newmarket/Summit Entertainment
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
2/5
Memento is about a
man who is searching for his wife's murderer. Leonard (Guy Pearce) is
that man and he has a unique problem: he has no short term memory since
the night of his wife's murder. It's not amnesia -- he can't make new
memories. Nothing stays in his mind for more than a few minutes.
This makes it very hard to find a killer. Leonard uses polaroid photos
with notes on the back in his handwriting to help him keep track of
facts (not too many facts). He also has the police reports and
summaries. And most importantly he tattoos facts and important
important information on his body.
To immerse the audience in the experience, the movie is told in
reverse. Actually there are two tracks. The color track starts near the
end of the movie and proceeds to the end. It alternates with a black
and white track that begins at the start of the movie (although this is
not apparent until later) and runs for a minute or two.
The two tracks keep alternating, slowly unwinding the movie from the
end. The black and white track is almost all talking and explaining so
it doesn't really move the plot, though it is valuable information. The
color track is interesting in that you see the results then you see the
cause and so on.
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Of course the
format of the movie means that it is a bit confusing. Especially as
more and more secrets are revealed it just gets a bit convoluted. In
the end the movie poses the question of what you would do to give your
life meaning. If you have nothing left to live for, what kind of
deceptions are you going to pull on yourself?
In the end I thought this movie was well executed but the story was
merely ok. The main story takes place over the course of about 24 hours
and since almost half of the material is the black and white background
stuff, the partial plot presented moves very quickly. I think if you
saw the movie in linear order it would be not that good.
Extras
1. IFC Interview with Director Christopher Nolan (25 minutes). Not bad.
The interviewer was not a total dweeb and Nolan is relatively
interesting.
2. Memento Mori by Jonathan Nolan. This is a short story that the
director's brother wrote. The basic ideas were used in Memento (guy
with no short term memories looking for his wife's killer).
3. Biographies. Christopher Nolan, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe
Pantoliano.
4. Trailers. Theatrical, Television, and one for Christopher Nolan's
first film, Following.
5. Tattoos. A look at the tattoos on Leonard's body as well as the
original illustrations.
6. OTNEMEM. A web site promoting the movie. Has somewhat nonsensical
content.
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