"Memento" Rated R
****.5/*****
Leonard Shelby was an insurance claims investigator until the attack that left his wife raped and murdered, and himself with short-term memory loss. He remembers every thing up to the attack, but day to day stuff he can't remember for more than a few minutes. Despite his "condition" Leonard becomes a private investigator in the death of his wife. Leonard is able to solve the mystery (we see at the beginning of the film) with the help of Polaroid pictures, pages and pages of notes and a sort of permentant kind of notes- tattoos. There are many shady characters tangled up in this mess including Teddy, a liar who's role in the film continually changes, and Natalie, someone who has also lost someone and who is somehow involved with drug dealing.
However, the biggest aspect of the story is that it is told from end to beginning. The movie itself isn't backwards, but we see the scenes in reverse order. The writer and director, Christopher Nolan does a brilliant job of making this work and adding the perfect amount of confusion. Many people see no point to this but to add an artistic touch, however I see it differently. Although it does add that touch, to me, this technique is a way to help the viewer identify with Leonard. Leonard can't remember what has happened before, and we haven't seen it yet.
This is a really interesting movie with great performances by Joe Pantoliano (Teddy), Carrie Ann Moss (Natalie), and especially Guy Pierce as Leonard. His character is well portrayed even though he does not really develop throughout the film. The writing and direction by Christopher Nolan is also fabulous. All those elements make for a very interesting, and different, movie.
