Memento

Year of release : 2000

 

Run time : 1h49min

 

Genre : Psychological Thriller / Mystery / Neo Noir

 

Cast : Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss

 

Director : Christopher Nolan

 

 

The movie is based on the short story by Jonathan Nolan, Memento Mori,which was published after the movie was released,in 2001.

 

The movie starts with the end, the first scene being played in reverse,leading to the lead, k!lling Teddy,for he thinks he's lying to him.

 

Our lead, Leonard, suffers from anterograde amnesia,meaning he can't form new memories,he only remembers things which happened to him before the accident.

He moves through life by writing things down, the important things on his body, taking pictures of places and people, so he can recognize them.

He has one purpose, to find his wife's k!ller, who also rendered him incapable of functioning normally.

 

Leonard is talking to someone on the phone, in black and white, telling us what happened to him and his wife. 2 perpetrators broke into their home, r@ping and str@ngling his wife, hitting him in the head,leaving him unconscious.

Leonard was an insurance investigator, and he recalls the story of Sammy Jankis, another anterograde amnesiac that he investigated, whose insurance he denied,thinking his condition was psychological and probably fake. He now understands what he went through,what it feels like to live with this condition, and realizes what was fake was him pretending to recognize people,so they won't think him insane.

 

Leonard is staying in a hotel room, has a lot of money, has an expensive suit, and expensive car,which might not be his, as Teddy points out,but he never worries about it.

 

The events of the movie are played starting from the end, and then we get to see what really happened,each time. This was a gimmick I liked the first time I watched the movie,but now it kinda bothered me. I think the movie was constructed this way so we'd feel like Leonard,know as much as he knows.

 

The movie has a series of black and white sequences which are presented chronologically, and a series of color sequences presented from the end.

 

The movie had a beautiful,haunting soundtrack.

 

The actors were great. The characters are shades of gray,but the good kind. They have many layers, and their layers are peeled off as the movie progresses ,and we see what truly happened, and who they truly are.

 

SPOILER The lead is doing this to himself,as he needs a purpose in life,and can't live with the guilt of what he's done, so he picks random people (until now Teddy,-who lied to him about his name because he was looking for men with certain initials-,gave him drug dealers to k!ll),but not liking what Teddy tells him (the truth) he makes Teddy the villain.

 

Memento was a success with critics and movie goers alike,grossing 40 million dollars over the 9 million budget it had,and has a cult following .

 

Memento is streaming for free on AppleTv+, Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex, Pluto, The Roku Channel, and is for rent / sale on Amazon ,and on Peacock and Peacock Premium with subscription.

 

Rating : Worth a watch !