Now, where was I?

Right another review, and yes this is turninig into a real review blog, but why not?????  More will follow maybe of a different tone soon, but for now why not do another review. :-)

So this time I have chosen the psychological thriller, Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, who really announced his arrival as a great new talent, who would continue to make some terrific films after this.  Memento takes on a rather complex form, as it is told in reverse chronological order in colour, while the black and white sequences run in forward order.  So the plot analysis will be a bit of a mind shag here, but I will give it a go.

OK so the film starts (or technically ends) with Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) standing over the body of a dead man, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), having just taken a picture of his dead body, the scene goes into reverse as Leonard picks up the gun and fires a bullett into the back of Teddy's head.  In the next scene, which shows the events leading up before the opening one, Leonard meets with Teddy inside a motel, where Leonard is staying.  Teddy turns out to be a cop, who has been helping out Leonard with his investigation to find the man who raped and killed his wife (Jorja Fox).  Leonard however, as a result of the night of attack on himself and his wife, suffers from a rare condition that causes short term memory loss, as a result he can't make new memories, and he can only remember things for a few minutes, after which he loses the memory and has to start again.  Also as a result of his condition, Leonard has to keep a list of notes to help him with his short-term memory, and even tatooing his body with notes and clues about his investigation.  At the warehouse we see at the start of the film, Leonard looks at a picture of Teddy, which he took earlier, and he sees the words written on the back of it "Don't believe his lies, he is the one, kill him".  This pre-empts Leonard's decision to kill Teddy, who before he dies says to Leonard that he has no idea who he is or what he has become since his wife's death.

Since this is pretty confusing to explain in reverse order, I will explain a bit more without going into too much depth, but as Leonard investigates his wife's death, he also get's help from a woman, Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) to try and track down this man, who was nicknamed "John G".  But as the film goes on we find out Natalie had a boyfriend who was a drug dealer, who went missing, and he owes money to someone, and she uses Leonard to track down the man called Dodd, and kill him, Leonard on his encounter with Dodd, doesn't kill him, and with Teddy's help they force him to leave town.  We also learn that Leonard's former job was an insurance investigator, and in his biggest case, he investigated a man named Sammy Jenkis (Stephen Tobolowsky) who apparently suffered the same condition, he has, and as result Leonard always seems to remember that name, but unlike himself Sammy apparently was a con-man who hadn't a wife.  And as the film culiminates we soon find out the truth about what happened to Leonard, his wife and what became of the man who apparently killed her.

Memento without a doubt is an excellent film, and really heralded the arrival of Chris Nolan as a talented new filmmaker.  The film is undoubtedly very well written, complex and intelligent, and it remains an engrossing film throughout.  The structure of the film, with the colour scenes running in reverse order, and the black and white scenes running in forward order, is actually also quite daring and it makes for a refreshing take on the narrative of the film.

Performance wise everything is pretty much top drawer here, with Guy Pearce producing one of the best performances of his career, as the tortured and lost Leonard Shelby, who struggles with his condition, who is imprinted with the last memory of his dying wife, but he also tries to keep on top of it with the use of his notes and tatoos.  Joe Pantoliano (or Joe Pants as he is also known!) is similarly great as the cop, Teddy, who turns out to be manipulating Leonard for his own ends, especially at the end of the film, where he get's Leonard to kill a man, for money over a drug deal.  And then there is the lovely Carrie-Ann Moss who is also terrific as Natalie, who also turns out to be a manipulative character, who eventually helps out Leonard in trying to track down the killer.  And in a smaller role, Mark Boone Junior puts in an amusing turn as the motel worker, Burt, where Leonard is staying, where he soon tells Leonard that he has been charging him for two rooms, since business is slow for him, and and Leonard says "Well at least you're being honest about ripping me off!", and Burt says "Well you wouldn't remember anyway", to which Leonard says "you don't have to be that honest, Burt!". 

Direction wise, Nolan rarely if ever puts a foot wrong here, as his keeps you thoroughly engrossed in the film, and despite its complex structure, you can still follow it, thanks to how well written and paced it is by him.  And despite overall serious tone of the film, Nolan does provide one or two amusing moments, with Leonard's condition.  And the film's funniest moment comes when he looks for Dodd's hotel room, but he kicks in the wrong door and he knocks outs the man in the room, as he is looking for room 6, but he has the piece of paper turned upside town with his notes to find the room, and it says 9!  Also worthy of note is the synthesized score by David Julyan, which is quite effective, albeit it is pretty morose in tone, but it has some really good ambient pieces in it too. 

The film itself doesn't have many flaws, although one or two flaws could be in Leonard's character, as he clearly can't remember things for more than a few minutes, yet when he sees Teddy every time, he almost seems to recognise him, which doesn't seem to keep in with his memory condition.  I guess Leonard can use the photos he takes of Teddy and Natalie to help him keep his short term memory in check that he has in fact met this people before.  But when he does meet them he takes it for granted that he already has met them and knows them, even the motel worker, Burt.  But there are also moments when Natalie is with Leonard that he tries or even pretends to make it seem like he does remember her, like the scene when they wake up together in bed, and she stirs a bit alarmed, and Leonard says "its only me".   

At times also in the film, there is something that doesn't sit comfortably with me about Leonard, clearly he is out for revenge, but he also is a killer, as in the film we see him kill four men, in retaliation for his wife's death (one during the assault of his wife with a gun, the other man who raped his wife, Jmmy Grants the drug dealer, and then Teddy).  And one of those murders is Teddy, whom at the end of the film we see that Leonard choses to leave clues for him to use Teddy as the culprit or "John G" he is looking for, when he has already apparently killed the man that attacked and raped his wife over a year ago, as Teddy tells him at the end.  In this moment Leonard deliberately chooses not to believe or accept Teddy's explanation, and out of feeling manipulated and used, he decides to kill Teddy in retaliation, and leaves himself a trace of clues to eventually pin it on Teddy.  

Although what becomes of Leonard after the end (the chronological end I should say!) no one can tell, one thing is for sure is that he has just killed an undercover cop, so no doubt the police would be after him for it.  And if the police arrested him, he would probably come to in jail without even realising why he is there!  Plus he hasn't written down that Teddy was a cop at all, so what if he decides to stay in town rather than leave, as surely he should have kept note that he was a cop, so he would know he had to get out of there.  So Leonard's fate is left ambiguous at the end, and we just have to assume what will happen as a result.

Soooooo that's it for my review of Memento, its a great film, and its one to watch if you haven't already seen it.

OK bye the now.