"Remember Sammy Jankis"
I continue my trip through the world of Christopher Nolan with his second feature film Memento (2000). This is probably my favorite of all of his movies (As much as I want to say Batman, but for other reasons, Christian Bale :oP) Memento was produced 2 years after Nolan completed Following and contains many of the same film making elements that Nolan appeared to be experimenting with in his first film. Memento is actually based on a short story that his brother Johnathan wrote, but it was not published until after the movie was released.
The basic story follows Leonard Shelby, who was attacked in his home when trying to protect his wife from two men who entered his home and raped her. They hit him on his head and caused him to no longer be able to produce any new memories. The last thing that Leonard says he remembers is his wife dying. He makes it his mission to locate and kill the man who murdered his wife and took away his memory. Since he is unable to produce any new memories Leonard must relay on the notes and pictures that he takes. He also tattoos the most important things on his body. He cannot remember things for more than a few minutes at a time....making the search for his wife's killer a bit challenging.
This story is enough to make an interesting movie, but Nolan takes it one step further in the WAY he tells the story. Much like he did with Following, Nolan starts at the end of the story and works his way backwards. He takes the beginning of the movie, the end of the movie, and shows snips of both until they finally come together full circle back to the opening sequence. (which is actually played backwards) Confusing you say??? How will I know what is the beginning of the movie and what is the end?? All valid questions, and there is a simple answer. Nolan uses black and white to help distinguish between the different sequences of events. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when the two sequences finally come together and it changes over from black and white to color. As in Following, much to what Leonard is experiencing, much like Billy, is not everything that is appears to be. 
The acting in this movie was also very good. Guy Pierce did a great job as Leonard. I found it very interesting that he was not the first choice for the roll. Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano, both fresh off The Matrix, also did amazing jobs with their rolls. These seemed to really be difficult parts to really get down, yet each actor seemed so comfortable and so perfect in each of their rolls.
This is such a hard movie to talk about without giving to much away, and I don't want to do that at all. I will say that this is one of the movies that a person really needs to watch at least twice. You pick up so many different things the second time around, that you wish you had noticed the first time. This is truly a must for all Nolan fans, and fans of cinema in general. I really felt like this was the movie that he was trying to make with Following. That was his practice, his stepping stone, and without making that movie I don't believe Memento would have be the amazing movie that it is.
So I say...Watch it....watch it again....and then make a decision, but I can promise you that for those 113 minutes, you will not be bored. Confused....maybe....bored....not at all.
"Just because I don't remember, doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't disappear just because I close my eyes."
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