Have you seen?: Memento

Long before Batman had begun or Inception’s...inception, I came across a tattered video in an increasingly redundant VHS collection by a young upstart called Christopher Nolan. It had an unremarkable cover, save for a few quotes: “A masterpiece!” wrote one critic; a “new classic among thrillers!” said another; equally exclamatory “it’s got Trinity from The Matrix in”, I thought “it’s worth a go”. A little under two hours later, with the credits rolling, I realised I was right.

Memento tells the story of Leonard, a man who is searching for the person who broke into his home and raped and killed his wife. However, the film isn’t your typical revenge story as the intrusion left Leonard with a condition that means he can’t remember anything for more than five minutes. And I mean anything. This means that Leonard must take photographs on his Polaroid camera of important people and places (scrawling any notes underneath), whilst he also has the most important clues in his investigation tattooed on various parts of his body.

Still sound relatively straightforward? Well it isn’t. Literally. The film is told using two different sequences: the first is in black and white and chronological order, simply showing Leonard on the phone to an unknown stranger; the second is in colour but is shown in five minute clips that are played in reverse chronological order. This means that at the beginning of every scene, while Leonard has forgotten what has taken place five minutes before, we are yet to find out.

Nolan takes the best elements of film noir and combines them with a cutting edge style to create a poignant masterpiece. Leonard’s scenes on the telephone provide the exposition in the form of his backstory, as well as the troubling tale of Sammy Jankis (who shares Leonard’s condition). The scenes in colour slowly unravel the events that led to Leonard killing a man in the opening scene – a scene which resonates throughout the film and provides added intrigue to an already confusing narrative.

The true success of Memento is that its reverse story-telling isn’t just a gimmick, but a device which allows Nolan to put us firmly in Leonard’s shoes. This makes for incredibly tense and compelling viewing as we, like Leonard, don’t know whether we can trust the help he has from the shifty Teddy or the mysterious Natalie. Joe Pantoliano’s Teddy is particularly good at walking the line between ally and enemy, as we puzzle over what made Leonard scrawl simply ‘Don’t believe his lies’ on the back of Teddy’s Polaroid.

That’s to say nothing of Guy Pearce’s understated performance as the brooding yet endearing Leonard. Pearce mixes his character’s dark determination with the innocence and naivety that his condition gives him, with a performance that makes me wonder why his career has never really taken off. Pearce has to change his persona, albeit subtly, every five minutes his character must forget all that has come before and adapt to each new scenario as it happens, while it is his overriding vulnerability that provides Memento’s main thread.

If you enjoyed being confused by Christopher Nolan’s Inception, then Memento is well worth a watch. Like Inception, if you follow the labyrinthine plot, you will be suitably rewarded when the film reaches its brilliant climax. When Nolan places the final pieces in the puzzle, he gives you an experience you won’t forget for a long time.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.