Memento
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Movie Reviews of Memento
Movie Review: A Truly Tantalizing Treat
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, easily the most original film (the only other candidate being "Being John Malkovich") of the past ten years, is also probably the best film made so far this year. It relies on the most treacherous and damning of human aspects--memory--to not only confuse our desperate protagonist, but also ourselves.Beginning on a disconcerting note, the film shows a man being killed, and then runs backwards, scene by scene, in ten minute segments. The film becomes not so much as a "whodunit" but more of a "whydunit" and "howdunit." It explains how a man without any short-term memory named Leonard has come to be in California, looking for his wife's murderer. The only things on his side are Polaroids with notes scribbled under them to remind him of important people and things, important "facts" tattooed on his body, and two people of questionable motive named Natalie and Teddy.
This is a film where you need to sit down and stay down. If you get up to use the bathroom, I promise you'll miss something crucial (and you'll want to remember everything you can for the astonishing, much-debated ending). If you stop halfway through and try to finish later, you'll have probably forgotten many seemingly insignificant, though undoubtedly important, little bits of information.
Technically, the film is exceptional. The music and cinematography is first-rate, making California look like a bleached, bleak cesspool (the finer elements of Man are totally ignored here). Guy Pearce conveys phenomenal depth and range as the desperate, troubled, yet wry Leonard. Carrie Ann-Moss (almost wholly unrecognizable after "The Matrix") shines as the bitter, yet tender Natalie. Joe Pantoliano, of course, plays Teddy utterly to hell. It's a magnificent performance, and one that well deserves award recognition.
This film is by no means for everyone. Some of it is very intense, and it certainly will mess with your mind. But for all those patient and willing enough to sit through it, think about it, and give it a chance, it will prove to be that most rare type of film: a film that proves as intellectually stimulating and challenging as it does entertaining.
Movie Review: So Far, The Best of 2001!
Summary: 5 Stars
Memento is one of those rare films that manages to do something new. On one level, this film is a simple crime thriller. Guy Pearce plays the disabled Leonard who is searching for his wife's killer despite being hampered by the inablity to make any new memories. Though the mystery element of the plot is compelling, the true force of the movie comes from its ablity to let you experience a series of events from Leonard's perspective. The movie runs backwards in ten minute clips that mirror the increadibly short period of time in which Leonard can maintain linear awareness. You watch as Leonard is thrust into a situation and, along with Leonard, you have no idea how he got there. It is only after the scene has run its course and the movie skips to the next sequence that you are finally given the answer. However, every answer you are granted unearths three times as many new questions, and you find your attention rapt and unrelenting as you wait for the appearance of Leonard's next random adventure. This movie is as compelling as any that have been released in recent memory. Like "Pulp Fiction," the events of the film are not presented linearly, thus making the editing a major factor in the effect of the film. The structure is increadibly unique and well crafted. The movie starts at the chronological end and moves backwards in jumps which are separated by black and white segments that take place in the distant past. The narrative lines run towards each other and eventually connect using the very clever device of watching a polaroid picture develop (thus providing the bridge from black and white to color).
Guy Pearce gives a tremendous performance. If he got your attention in L.A. Confidential, he's proved himself to be a formidable actor here, much like Brad Pitt's career defining performance in "Seven." But really there is not much more I can say, the whole supporting cast is superb, the script is well above average and the direction and film construction is magnificent. This is a daring and thought provoking movie and if you have any interest at all in the genre of film it is not one that you can possibly justify having missed.
Movie Review: Brilliant, heartbreaking, funny
Summary: 5 Stars
The truly wonderful thing about Memento is the number of paradoxes it reveals in a second viewing, or a "backwards" viewing, for those more inclined to use the rewind button. Joe Pantoliano's character, Teddy, is simultaneously honest and devious; Lenny (Guy Pearce) makes the conscious choice not to believe him because he is the only one who tells the painful truth. When viewed the first time, Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) seems cruel and deliberately fierce; only when her behavior is contextualized does it make sense. And even then, the scene where she chastises Lenny, calling him a retard and a freak, is heartbreaking.Critics either loved or hated the movie, and the ones who hated it said it lacked any depth in characterization. I object heavily to this. Lenny is urgent and displaced, but thanks to Guy Pearce's performance, he is one of the most intriguing characters in modern cinema. He is incredibly likable, despite his being a walking, talking, present tense enigma. He is a person in the truest sense, despite his handicap and inability to contextualize himself in the grid of everyday living. Natalie calls him a survivor, but he's more than that. He has to have faith that the world still goes on when he closes his eyes. He's a believer, a testament that faith comes only with blissful ignorance.
Carrie-Anne Moss gives a stunning performance as Natalie. If you're looking for a character who undergoes a transformation throughout the movie, look no further. Perhaps because the movie is viewed backwards, we are left with the impression that she is a heartless manipulator. Look closer and you'll realize that she experiences a transformation near the "end" of the sequence of events (or the beginning of the movie). She wants Lenny to remember her. When he doesn't, she's crushed. How could he not remember her? After all, Lenny seems to consume the lives of everyone with whom he comes in contact--and it is he who is unaffected by daily interactions.
If we are to believe the message of Memento, we would see that one must be cruel to be kind, just as the movie itself is cruel to the viewer--demanding involvement with those already dead and beyond repair.
Movie Review: FINALLY A GREAT MOVIE IN 2001!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Didn't think it would happen. All the hyped up fluff that was offered was always a letdown. Then I saw "Memento" and my faith in the entertainment business of making movies was restored to an extent. What a refreshing, absolutely stunning great movie. I don't want to get carried away with adjectives but it lived up to all the hype I had heard on the net about it. The story is not original but the way it's told is. The movie is told backwards with the end at the beginning, but we are given a narrative that is unique in the way it's told to get to that end. Leonard Shelby, who is played exquisitely by Guy Pearce (who is always great in the movies I've seen him in, why hasn't he been up for the Oscar by the way????) is the haunting, tortured main character who's life has been destroyed in one fell sweep by two criminals who raped and murdered his wife and in defending her he suffers an injury which destroys his ability to make new memories. Even with that severe handicap he sets out on a mission to get revenge. What a great theme, and Christopher Nolan the director and screenwriter tells it to us in a way that is unforgettable. Joe Pantoliano of "The Matrix" fame is his friend (or enemy??) who sets out to help him on this quest, and Carrie-Anne Moss (also from "The Matrix" provides the femme fatale character, and the two of them complement Guy Pearce'S great performance very well. Joe Pantoliano's is able to inject humor, empathy, and charm in his character and Carrie-Anne Moss provides some good eye candy and and excellent acting as well. Even though the theme is serious it has it's funny moments too, and this helped to relieve some of the tenseness of the strong scenes that I found myself caught up in along with Leonard Shelby. Please take the time to see this movie and view it with an open mind and patience. Once you "get it", and that may take more concentration than you're used to giving a movie, I just can't see why the "getting it" will not be the most entertainment adventure you've had with movies so far this year. You won't forget it!!! BTW, Guy Pearce is pretty darned good looking in this movie too!Movie Review: Incredible in every way!
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, this is probably the best movie I have seen in years. This movie will pull you in from the start, mystify you for 113 minutes, and will leave you stunned at the end. This is not your typical revenge movie, because both the story and the storytelling are very original. The reason being that this story is told backwards. You watch the scenes of the film in their reverse chronological order, which leaves you wondering not "what happens next," but rather "what just happened?"Leonard (Pearce) is on a personal mission to discover the identity of the man who murdered his wife. But to complicate matters, Leonard has a rare memory condition which he recieved the night his wife was killed. He no longer has any short-term memory. He can rememeber who he is, and everything that happened before his memory condition started, but he can't form new memories. He relies on notes and photographs to continually remind himslef what he is doing, who his friends are, and where he has been.
The story is told in reverse order so the viewer can sympathize with his condition. Leonard doesn't know where he just was, or what he just did; so this way the viewer doesn't know either. The suspenseful drama that unfolds is like no other you have ever seen. It is a unique story in that you know how it ends, but you watch to find out how it began. With every passing scene you go a little further back in Leonard's life, learning what he no longer remembers, until you finally reach a shocking finale (beginning?) that will make you want to watch it again on the spot.
This is one of those movies about which you will discover something new each time you watch. The discussions you will have with your friends after seeing it will never get boring. I watched this movie 4 times during the first week that I owned it, and then let someone borrow it. Every day, I called that person almost begging him to return it so I could watch it again. There isn't much on the DVD by way of extras, but ragardless I highly recommend that you BUY (not rent) this movie. It leaves a very lasting impression. Unlike Leonard, once you've seen this movie, you will never forget it.