I am not the first person to note this, not at all, but Christopher Nolan is obsessed with time. How much people want to hold on to it, how we're all so often working against it, and how it can be manipulated in so many ways for cinema. Memento may not be his first feature film, but it may well remain his most perfect rumination on time, and on how we cannot ever avoid the consequences of it, whether we're moving forward normally, figuring out things in reverse chronological order, or actively working to rewrite the memories that have caused the most pain.
Guy Pearce is Leonard, a man with a peculiar condition. He cannot retain any short-term memories. This has been the case ever since his wife was assaulted and killed in their home, and Leonard has been determined to get revenge ever since that life-shattering night. He is being helped by a man named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), and ends up being given some important information by a woman named Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). But the thing about having short-term memory loss is that it's almost impossible to trust people.
I have been a big fan of Memento since the first time I saw it, although I must say that the first time I saw it was the end result of trying to fully watch it three times. It's not a film you can watch without fully concentrating on it, but it rewards viewers for giving it their undivided attention. Watching it today, probably a good 12-15 years since I last watched it, I like it just as much as I did during that first viewing. The script and direction from Nolan, working from the short story, "Memento Mori", by his brother, Jonathan Nolan, is already at the high standard that he has maintained throughout most of his career, but without any of the sense of self-importance that has become problematic in some of his more recent films. While it is a puzzle-box of a film, it's a puzzle that rewards viewers numerous times before getting to the finale. And it's easy enough to enjoy, and be moved by, even if the initial viewing leaves you a bit disorientated and confused.
Pearce is excellent in the lead role, his usual acting skills accompanied by a bleached-blond hairdo and numerous tattoos all over his body (this is how the character keeps possession of pertinent facts), and he's very ably supported by both Pantoliano and Moss, who have a lot of fun in roles that somehow feel both in their wheelhouse and yet also a step removed from the kind of characters you might expect them to portray. Mark Boone Junior is also a welcome addition, playing a hotel clerk named Burt, and there is some screentime for Jorja Fox and Harriet Sansom Harris, among others. The unsung hero of the film, however, is Stephen Tobolowsky, portraying Sammy Jankis, someone with the same condition as Leonard, and arguably a key to unlocking the slippery truth of the film. Tobolowsky gives a performance that is absolutely beautiful and heart-breaking, and it's always good to have an excuse to mention him as so much more than just the man who was so brilliant at exclaiming "bing!" in Groundhog Day.
Maybe just a bit too interested in the construction of the plot ahead of anything else, which is a criticism you could level at almost every movie Nolan has ever directed (to date), Memento does a great job of delivering familiar neo-noir moments with a twist. It's hard-boiled, it's full of moments of dark humour, and it poses an interesting question about the ability of people to let time heal their wounds when they don't have our shared concept of time passing normally.
9/10
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