MEMENTO
Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss
Directed by Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Jonathan Nolan
Newmarket Films/20th Century Fox
Sometimes, when I'm very tired, I'll pass out wherever I can get comfortable. Grab ten minutes, or half an hour, or as much sleep as I can get. Recharge the serotonin, and so on.
Sometimes, I'll do this, and when I wake up, I've forgotten my name.
Not in any permanent way, obviously, but I do find myself having to…er, reload certain pieces of data.
I don't think there's anything wrong with me - apart, of course, from a need for more sleep - but my sponge-like memory is one of my best features. Sometimes, it's a curse - I've done too many embarrassing things to count, and I can remember them all in cold, clinical, stomach-churning detail. Sometimes, it's a blessing.
Either way, I'm proud of my ability to recall minutiae. It winds me up something terrible when I can't remember certain things. Even the most mundane things: what happened on Home and Away yesterday (some idiot did something horrid to some other idiot); the first appearance of the Punisher (Amazing Spider-Man v1.129); the molecular formula for benzene (er…).
My biggest fear is that I'll forget the important stuff, too. That I'll end up a ghost, trapped within my own head, nothing to tell me who I am, where I've been, whether I've eaten or fouled myself. Unable to really trust anyone or anything, but having to rely on strangers for my own survival.
Leonard Shelby, played by the superb Guy Pearce, is a ghost. A spectre, finished with life in our world, but trapped here by unfinished business. And he is manipulated by everybody around him, for their own ends. Including himself.
The film is really two stories at once: the story of one man's quest for a vengeance he can never be entirely certain of, and the story of a man who's aware, on some subconscious level, that he's being used. That he's no longer in control of his life, no matter how hard he tries to deny it.
I can see how some people might find the backwards chronology gimmick a bit hard to get their heads around. Having watched the film in the reverse, or correct, order, I can safely say that the story is a lot more linear and straightforward than it might appear on the surface.
In the official direction, one learns more and more about Leonard Shelby, and the people around him, which is a more satisfying and straightforward way to view the story. In the correct chronological order, one is placed directly in Leonard Shelby's shoes, straight into a world which is constantly confusing, where the people around you have more control over you than you do, and you don't even know it. Shelby knows less and less about himself as time moves forward. What's worse is, you almost feel like that's how he wants it. This makes his story all the more tragic.
Christopher Nolan keeps the camera close in on Leonard Shelby throughout Memento, even when the character is remembering his life pre-brain damage. This serves to heighten the tension somewhat: as if there's almost nothing else in Leonard Shelby's world, except himself. Which, of course, is true.
The setting reinforces the underlying theme of the movie: one of loss. Anonymous motel rooms, abandoned warehouses, endless rolling streets, Anytown, USA. Even Leonard's clothes are off-the-rack, hundreds of people dressed just like him, things. The lack of identification with his environment, which Leonard tries to overcome early in the film (late in the story?) suggests that he's aware of this on some level, even actively seeking it. It's easy for a ghost to get lost in an open space.
Memento is a clever detective story, which works well whichever direction you watch it in. It answers some questions, but leaves you with new ones. Nothing and no one are exactly what they seem. It's the sort of film that people are going to watch again and again, enjoying every minute of it, and coming away with something different every time.
If you haven't seen Memento yet, then you're missing out.
Worth writing down, that.
(This review is based on the DVD edition of Memento. On the DVD, you can read the original short story which inspired the film. The two stories are very different entities, and really they feed into each other. If you can get hold of the DVD, or track down the short story in print form - it's in the book of the screenplay, for instance - then do so. It's an extremely claustrophobic tale, putting blinkers on the world, and is a fascinating piece of storytelling.)
Review Text (C) Matthew Craig
Originally published in the pop
culture magazine Robot Fist