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A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to see Memento. Memento? I had no idea what it was; who was in it or even that it was currently playing. So I investigated. It turns out that it featured three actors I admire: Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Rules of Engagement), Canada's Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Chocolat, Red Planet) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, The Fugitive, Bound). It also happened to be #77 in IMDb's Top 250 movies (as of April 6, 2001) and it was playing at the Impérial, one of Montréal's most beautiful and respected movie theatre. Of course, it didn't hurt that I would see it in good company. [SPOILER WARNING: This review discusses some of the peculiarities of this movie, which can ruin your viewing experience. Read it at your own risk and peril.] Originality is Memento's greatest asset. By the end of the opening credits, I was already impressed and ready for more. As I watched the first images going backwards, I thought, "Okay, this is going to be interesting." And it was. Really interesting. Memento's first scene is a good indication of how its story is told: backwards. The audience is first presented with a scene involving the main character (Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce) in a violent situation. The rest of the movie is all about finding out why and how Leonard found himself in this jam. The concept might seem bizarre, but after some reflection, I came to the conclusion that the story couldn't have been told any other way. Or if it had, it would have been boring.
Why does the story need to be told in this fashion? Because Leonard has a "condition", which prevents him from making new memories, a fact that Leonard will remind us of many times. Why? Because Leonard has a "condition", which prevents him from making new memories! This key plot element is one of the things I liked most about the movie, since it introduced a lot of comedy relief in the movie, which would otherwise be classified as a Drama/Suspense/Thriller. If we were to see the movie in chronological order, it sure wouldn't last its current 113 minutes, as a lot of scenes are presented twice or more, but every time with more information available to us, as the story progresses... backwards. This, of course, makes the story complicated, confusing and hard to follow. Every time we think we know the truth, a new fact is thrown into the mix and we have to start all over again. Long after the end credits had finished rolling, I was still discussing the movie with my friend, and she and I couldn't agree on what had really happened.
But ambiguity is one of the reasons why this movie is so interesting. It brings up the issue of what truth really is. If you remember something, does it mean it really happened? Our perception and memory are not always perfect and this is exactly what writer-director Christopher Nolan explores in this amazing film. I'm sure that even I were to watch it again, I would still confused as to what really happened, especially since the whole story is told from Leonard's point of view. The "backwards" storytelling also allows us to put ourselves in Leonard's shoes: we have no idea what happened in the past. The theme was also used for the film's official Web site: its domain name was backwards: otnemem.com! This was only the second outing for Nolan (his first was 1998's 70 minute Following) and he shows great promise. He will be playing with the big boys in his next feature, as he will be directing Al Pacino and Robin Williams in Insomnia, scheduled for Spring 2002.
I was thrilled to see Guy Pearce again. Since his portrayal of Lieutenant Ed Exley in 1997's critically acclaimed L.A. Confidential, he had starred in the less-than-stellar Ravenous and had a supporting role in Rules of Engagement, while Confidential did much more for his co-star Russell Crowe. Pearce plays Leonard with conviction and he makes us root for his "out-for-revenge" character. At first, I was a bit distracted by his blonde hair, but that was quickly forgotten as Leonard introduces us to his world of Polaroid snapshots (on which he writes notes, so that he can remember stuff) and body tattoos (of facts about his wife's rape and murder).
Memento marks Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano's third collaboration, the other two being The Matrix and 1999's relatively unknown New Blood. I've enjoyed Pantoliano's work for a while now, but my admiration for him grew since I saw him in The Wachowski Brothers' Bound. While he has mostly played bad guys, his "Teddy" character in Memento is far more nuanced. He still plays his almost-trademark "slick guy", but with an interesting twist. In fact, the whole movie is not about good or bad, black or white. Everything is gray. That is also true of Natalie (Moss), a woman helping Leonard for her own reasons, which are slowly uncovered. So, if you are looking for a brain-twister of a movie, I highly recommend Memento. Note: Although Memento's American theatrical run began in March 2001, it was technically released in 2000 (in several film festivals), which explains why it's part of my 2000 listing. Reviewed on April 15, 2001 |
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This page was last updated on: Sunday, 21-Mar-2004 16:23:24 CST © 1998-2004 Luc-Rock Paquin. All Rights Reserved. All movie images © by their respective owners. Used with permission. Before "borrowing" something from my site, please ask me. "Reel Canadian Movie Critic" logo by FranclyGraphic.com. 
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