Memento

A similar style to Inception, pay attention or you’ll lose it

I reckon what makes this work from Christopher Nolan is the creation of a cerebral maelstrom that is every bit as confusingly frustrating for us watching as it is for his protagonist "Leonard" (Guy Pearce). Now we don't know how he has developed his menacing ninja skills, but we do know that he is trying to get to the bottom of his wife's murder, and that he has virtually no short-term memory to help him. As he pieces things together, he has to leave himself notes, or polaroids augmented with scribbles so he can recall just how far he has got and whom he can (or cannot) trust. The facts that he considers crucial are tattooed across his body as his search narrows - or does it? Along the way he meets some characters that he has some documentation on - some, not. Some he advises himself to trust, some not. Some of the photos depict dead bodies. On those fronts, we do have just a little more information on the cause tan he does - but it doesn't really help anyone deduce who did kill his wife? Maybe he did it himself? Its a maze of a film this. It's littered with twists and complications - but they are not annoying nor gratuitous. It's the ultimate in cinematic one step forward two steps back, and those muddled scenarios are only emphasised by "Natalie" (Carrie-Anne Moss) and an on-form Joe Pantoliano as "Teddy" - a man who features increasingly as his quest proceeds. I also did enjoy the ending. It avoids the concrete and the simplistic, and offers a fitting end to a potently effective effort from a Pearce at the top of his game.

Phenomenal. What a movie! I had heard plenty about 'Memento' prior to watching in regards to how high-quality it supposedly was, though didn't actually (thankfully) get spoiled on anything that occurs onscreen - I did know of the note-taking, though for some reason thought it was via post-it notes rather than polaroids - no idea why! It's a very satisfying movie come the conclusion, concentration is very much the order of the day but the film does connect enough dots rather sharpish. I thoroughly appreciated the ending itself, Guy Pearce delivers the final moments supremely. Speaking of he, I've not seen much of him before but this is a terrific lead performance! Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss are excellent in their respective roles too, even Stephen Tobolowsky and Harriet Sansom Harris manage to leave an imprint on my mind despite much less screen time; first time I've seen Harris in anything properly since I was in my teens a decade or so ago, always remember her great showing in 'Desperate Housewives' (interestingly the first television show I ever got into, it's quality, don't @ me 😎). Anyway, back on track... Christopher Nolan - some director, eh?! I'd put this right in my top three ranking of his work, behind 'Inception' and 'Interstellar'. Such a fulfilling movie! I hope for similar-ish with his other pictures in 'Insomnia' and 'The Prestige', two flicks I know absolutely zilch about. I don't anticipate that Mr. Nolan will let me down at this point.