It's quite amazing how this film, based on a short story by director Nolan's brother, has turned into such a blockbuster hit. The film feels low budget as its a purely character driven movie and its all filmed on 4 or 5 locations; a motel room, a girl's house, a bar, an abandoned house. But three things make this the ultimate murder-mystery:
1. Acting is completely stellar by ev... read more
"Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts."
Christopher Nolan's 1998 feature-film debut Following failed to earn much worldwide recognition for the director, but his follow-up project Memento certainly managed to compensate... read more
Description:Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) wears expensive, European tailored suits, drives a late model Jaguar sedan, but lives in cheap, anonymous motels, paying his way with thick wads of cash. Although he looks like a successful businessman, his only work is the pursuit of vengeance: tracking and punishing the man who raped and murdered his wifeLeonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) wears expensive, European tailored suits, drives a late model Jaguar sedan, but lives in cheap, anonymous motels, paying his way with thick wads of cash. Although he looks like a successful businessman, his only work is the pursuit of vengeance: tracking and punishing the man who raped and murdered his wife. His suspicions dismissed by the police, Leonard's life has become an all-consuming quest for justice. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that Leonard suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his "accident", Leonard can't remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he is, where he's going or why.
A former insurance investigator, Leonard is keenly aware of his handicap. Moreover, he's got the discipline to compensate as well as the motivation-the cruel memory of his beloved wife's last moments. Haunted by what he's lost, he's re-built his life out of index cards, photographs, file folders, charts, tattoos and obsessive habits that stand in for memory, fixing him in space and time and connecting him to his mission. Out of necessity, Leonard must rely on others despite being thoroughly ill-equipped to assess either their motives or basic decency.
""I'm not a killer. I'm just someone who wanted to make things right. Can't I just let myself forget what you've told me? Can't I just let myself forget what you've made me do. You think I just want another puzzle to solve? Another John G. to look for? You're John G. So you can be my John G.. Will I lie to myself to be happy? In your case Teddy.. yes I will."
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"Watched: 19.5.
I have hunted this movie for a long time, so the expectations were very high. They were in favor, because this movie my god was great! Even though this movie is a must of necessity be seen again, this was brilliant from start to finish. A perfect unique movie that everybody should see. About the actors, I say enough that each was good, especially Guy Pearce.
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MithilVBhoras added this to a list 4 days, 2 hours ago
"Almost Famous in most years, and if I allowed it, this would have been my pic for Best Picture of 2001. Regardless, it debuted this year, so I might as well include it as being among the most original and intelligient psychological thrillers of all time.
A Best Screenplay nod, but it's a shame the Nolans would miss out on some big Oscar recognition until the release of Inception...and even then, it still couldn't win."
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One Sentence Review : First time I saw this movie, I got a little confused, but, at the same time, I was amazed by the director Chris Nolan's work. The history is so fantastic and the format of the movie is so audacious that i became a real fan, bought the movie and watched it every day for like two weeks.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan Nolan (short story "Memento Mori"), Christopher Nolan (screenplay)
Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano
My Rating : 10/"