Memento
Overview
Memento is a 2000 neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, based on a short story by his brother Jonathan Nolan. The film is famous for its non-linear narrative structure, which tells the story backwards in short segments, interspersed with black-and-white scenes that tell the story forwards. The film follows Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), a former insurance investigator who suffers from anterograde amnesia, meaning he cannot form new memories. He can remember his life before his wife was murdered, but he cannot remember anything that happened more than a few minutes ago. He tattoos important clues on his body, takes Polaroid photographs, and writes notes to himself. He is trying to find and kill the man who raped and murdered his wife. The film opens with a Polaroid photograph fading in reverse, revealing that the scene we are about to see is the end of the story. The color sequences are shown in reverse order, each one starting where the previous one ended. The black-and-white sequences are shown in chronological order, and they eventually converge with the color sequences. The film follows Leonard as he is manipulated by two characters: Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), a bartender who may or may not be helping him, and Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), a corrupt policeman who claims to be his friend. Leonard is an unreliable narrator, because he cannot remember anything and he is constantly being lied to. The film's twist is that Leonard has already found and killed his wife's murderer. He killed the man a year ago, but he forgot. Teddy is trying to help him stop, but Leonard cannot accept that his quest is over. The final scene reveals that Leonard has been deliberately choosing to forget, because he needs a purpose in life. He writes a note that Teddy is the killer, and he sets off to kill him, beginning the cycle again. Memento was a critical and commercial success, earning over $40 million on a $9 million budget. It was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. The film is a landmark of independent cinema and a brilliant exploration of memory, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves.
