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I started the script after reading about it in one of those screenwriting books and learning that Carrie-Anne Moss was in it...
Written by Christopher Nolan based on his brother's short story "Memento Mori"
One part of the story is told beginning, middle, end and in black and white. The second part is told backwards and in color. But both parts tells the story of Leonard Shelby who suffers from short-termed memory loss but is determined on seeking vengeance on his wife's murderer despite his handicap. As he searches, he meets Natalie, the bartender who helps him but has other plans for Leonard. And Leonard meets Teddy who is way more than he pretends to be.
I liked it a lot because it showed the end of Leonard's quest at the very beginning and with every new scene you see Teddy and Leonard's relationship through all new layers. What I didn't like was that I was hoping to see Leonard deciding he was going to devote his entire new life on looking for his wife's killer. But instead I see Leonard about to go into a tattoo parlor. But, that's the only thing I didn't like about it. The script gave you a sense of disorientation Leonard was feeling. Everytime there was a new scene, it didn't match the last one.
I thought it was a great movie. And it is definately not a standard murder mystery - it's not a mystery at all. The movie opens with him "figuring out who the killer is" and killing him, the mystery only starts as you go into the film and can't figure out how this guy could be the killer.
It's a psychological thriller, and it is about figuring out who is what, the murder playing a much lesser role.
Btw, it's not really based on the story. The way I heard it, Chris Nolan saw his brother writing the story and got interested in the idea. The story was only finished after the movie came out. The final results are completely different.
And whatever people tell you, the movie is not alinear. It is very linear, just - backwards.
but the black and white parts are told forward, but they happened before the colored parts. That doesn't sound linear. And I read the short story and you're right, only the premis of a man yearning for a revenge for his wife's murder because he can't feel time is the same in both stories.
I’m sorry. I just thought this movie was God-awful. The backward gimmick served no real purpose other than to annoy. It’s sad that running scene-for-scene backward was the only way he could give this any originality.
It was so full of plot holes, it was ridiculous. My boyfriend and I were just trying to point out all the plot holes one night and we had to quit discussing it because the plot holes just wouldn’t end.
He supposedly couldn’t form any new memories but yet he did all the time. He always remembered to take pictures, to look at the pictures, to make notes, to look at the notes. He even remembered to keep going back to a car that wasn’t even his car. He steals a car and continuously remembers the car even though he can’t remember he stole it. He couldn’t remember where he got his initial tattoo from yet he was able to learn how to give himself crude tattoos. I mean, the plot holes are endless.
Sorry, I know some people like it but I can’t in good conscience give it a good review. It’s simply bad. And painstakingly boring to boot, not mention overlong.
The plot holes you speak of are explained away to some extent by the whole Sammy Jankis storyline. We are led to believe that Leonard's condition does not exist and that his 3 minute memory is merely a way for his subconscious to cope with his wife's rape. In the end (beginning), the truth about Leonard's wife is revealed, yet he chooses not to believe it and continue searching for his wife's killer. This is where he writes "don't believe his lies" on the photo. His subconscious can't accept the truth about his wife, so it makes up an alternate reality which gives his life a purpose.
As for the car, it's a while since I saw it, but didn't he have a photo of the car which was parked outside his hotel?
That said, I don't fully understand it myself, and there are some loose ends that are never tied up. However, purely as entertainment, I thought this movie was excellent and not at all boring.
Stories like this inevitably have plot holes, it's all about how you paper over the cracks. I mean, look at Terminator or 12 Monkeys and tell me they are plausible. Time travel never ever works yet we're quite happy to suspend our disbelief for the sake of entertainment.
The movie iself was well filmed, edited and acted just thought the premis was very weak and ultimately led to a confusing film with too many holes in its plot.
This movie is not on its own, there are many other examples out there.
An example of pure craft is CHINATOWN directed by Roman Polanski, now that is a fantastic movie..
I totally agree with you on Chinatown, and I was in no way comparing the two. I wouldn't say Memento is one of the greats, not by a long shot, but it does have its merits. I like a movie that leaves you with something to think about. I even like movies that are almost impossible to figure out ala David Lynch. Memento is no masterpiece, but it attempted something different and I think it succeeded. Some might see the backwards plot as a gimmick, but I saw it as a decent innovation. It's one of those movies that keeps you guessing, even if you never reach a satisfying conclusion. It's also a good example of what you can do with a small cast and a limited budget.
I don’t recall it being established that his condition wasn’t real. With the previous story about the guy who couldn’t form new memories, the condition was real. So maybe the main character was only imitating that guy? I don’t know.
If in fact he couldn’t form new memories, it wouldn’t matter if he had a picture of his car in front of his hotel because the car would be in a different spot once he drove it somewhere and he shouldn’t remember where.
One of two things should have happened: 1) either his condition should not be real, in which case he’s an idiot because it was so obvious that he did in fact have the ability to remember things, or 2) the condition was real and the movie is stuffed with plot holes. Either way, it was just unbelievably flawed, I thought.
I love David Lynch and I don’t find his movies as incomprehensible as people say if one is willing to look beyond convention. I think David Lynch is fantastic and I believe, like him or not, people like him are necessary to provoke originality from everyone else. That’s why I’m such a huge Kubrick fan. He’s wild and original, yet he has a little more cohesion to his stories and gives me the full effect, so to speak.
Memento, though? I just didn’t find the backward scenes thing original or creative in any way. It’s certainly not the first movie to have scenes out of sequence. It just came off as really gimmicky to me. I totally respect your opinion. In fact, it prompts me to reconsider (and I really respect your research with caffeine ). But I just didn’t think the movie was very good at all.
I don�t recall it being established that his condition wasn�t real. With the previous story about the guy who couldn�t form new memories, the condition was real. So maybe the main character was only imitating that guy? I don�t know.
Okay, it's a while since I saw it so you can probably disregard my comment about his condition not being real. What I meant was that it's not as simple as being unable to form new memories.
The way it's revealed at the end, we discover that Sammy Jankis didn't have a wife, and therefore Leonard had subconsiously merged his own memories with his memory of Sammy. Leonard's wife didn't die when she was raped, she died later when Leonard injected her with insulin.
Therefore, if Leonard is capable of remembering his wife's death (albeit in a confused context) which occured after his accident, he is capable of forming new memories. However, his subconscious prevents him from truly remembering killing his wife, so he invents a situation where she was murdered and the killer is still at large. Thus giving his life a new purpose: revenge.
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). But I just didn’t think the movie was very good at all.
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