After a tragic accident, two stage magicians engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Stars:
Christian Bale,
Hugh Jackman,
Scarlett Johansson
Mathilda, a 12-year-old girl, is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. Léon and Mathilda form an unusual relationship, as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line moves forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time.Written by
Scion013
Although the opening scene is literally shown backwards, every single sound effect is, in fact, a "normal" forward-played sound effect. The only sound played backwards is Teddy screaming, "No!" See more »
Goofs
As Leonard stands at Dodd's door preparing to enter, there isn't a window on his left side. Once Leonard breaks into Dodd's room, a window appears to his left. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Leonard Shelby:
[voiceover]
So where are you? You're in some motel room. You just - you just wake up and you're in - in a motel room. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's just the first time you've been there, but perhaps you've been there for a week, three months. It's - it's kind of hard to say. I don't - I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.
See more »
Alternate Versions
In the Alliance Atlantis DVD (distributed in Canada), a "Chronological Scene Index" is available from the "Main Menu," to the right of "Set-Up," on the crossed-out "Reverse." This index provides the scenes in their true chronological order, but, apparently, each scene must be selected to be played. See more »
Losing your memory would have to go close to one of the worst experience anyone could ever suffer from. In the movie Memento', we get to see how bad it is to suffer from short term memory loss. It also gives us the chance to see how far a patient of such a disease will go to remember what is most important to him. In the vain of Pulp Fiction', Memento is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. It is no wonder that this movie is so popular with the movie going public around the world.
Leonard Shelby wears expensive, tailored suits, drives a late model Jaguar sedan, but lives in cheap, anonymous motels, paying his way with thick wads of cash. Although he looks like a successful businessman, his only work is the pursuit of vengeance: tracking and punishing the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that Leonard suffers from a rare, untreatable form of amnesia'. Although he can recall details of life before his accident' Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he is, where he is going, or why.
Christopher Nolan has made one great (but confusing) movie. His style in directing and editing Memento' is quite unique, as no movie has ever been made quite like it before. The story being told in a backward kind of motion makes the audience have to think hard about what they are watching. It also makes the audience feel for a guy like Leonard, whose condition only gets worse and worse as the movie goes on. I am almost 100% sure that Nolan and his brother Jonathan, made up this story in the realisation that it was meant to be confusing. What is also cleverly done by Nolan is the use of black and white and then colour shots. In my opinion, the variations in these shots are used so it confuses the audience even more.
Guy Pearce's role in Memento' shows me why he is so successful in Hollywood today. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, a man on the hunt for his wife's killer. The only problem is that Shelby is suffering from anterior-grade amnesia', a disease that cannot be treated. With Lenny', I feel the audience suffers partly the same condition as he does, and partly does not, as we can remember what has happened in the present.
Memento's other main stars include corrupt cop Teddy' (Joe Pantoliano). A friend said of Pantoliano's performance in Memento, he was perfect for the role of Teddy', as he comes across as the mysterious bad guy'. I could not agree more. There is also the character of Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) who is a lot like Teddy in her own way. What is similar about these characters is the way they use Leonard's condition to advantage their own situations.
Other characters include Sammy Jenkis (Stephen Tobolowsky), who is a victim we learn about from an old case when Leonard Shelby was an insurance investigator. There is Leonard's wife, Catherine (C.S.I.'s Jorja Fox) who is another fascinating character. Although we do not hear her say much, she is a vital part of this most confusing story. Add in the funny role of Burt (Mark Boone Jnr.), the motel clerk, who openly admits to Lenny that he is ripping him off, by giving him two rooms, but that he will not remember it happening anyway.
Yet in no way do any of the characters in Memento' realise they are in a time reversed movie. I am sure that many of the performers would have had to read their scripts many times to understand what was happening from a cinematic point of view. But from an acting prospective, this would have been an easy experience to be part of. Memento also has some interesting devices to tell the story. The way Leonard tries to remember things in the present and the future, via notes tattoos and photographs, making them an important element within the movie. Without them, our hero would not be able to remember anything.
Nonetheless, memory is the most vital element in this movie, because without it, people are confused, isolated and abused, which is what happens to our hero', Leonard. As Lenny mentions early on in the film, "Memory's unreliable ... Memory's not perfect. It's not even that good. Ask the police; eyewitness testimony is unreliable ... Memory can change the shape of a room or the colour of a car. It's an interpretation, not a record. Memories can be changed or distorted, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." But it has to be ironic that Leonard is the one who narrates Memento', when his recollections and memories of events are inaccurate and jaded. There are also some powerful scenes in Memento'. The one which sticks in my mind the most' has to be where Natalie abuses Leonard, calling his dead wife a whore', snorting smartly that you won't be even able to remember what I have said'.
So, if you watch this movie and it confuses you the first or even the second time, I can assure you that is how you are meant to feel, confused. If you hated watching Memento' the way Christopher Nolan intended, then I can only recommend that you get a hold of the DVD and watch it in chronological order, as it will really help you. Memento also shows how bad mental disease' patients can be abused by healthy people and what lengths sick patients will go to try and keep sane'. Also, if a movie makes you think, then in some way it has been successful in doing something that many movies do not do making you think. Those sorts of cinematic experiences are the ones that we need to cherish for life, as they are few and far between. Memento is one such experience.
CMRS gives Memento': 5 (Brilliant Movie)
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Losing your memory would have to go close to one of the worst experience anyone could ever suffer from. In the movie Memento', we get to see how bad it is to suffer from short term memory loss. It also gives us the chance to see how far a patient of such a disease will go to remember what is most important to him. In the vain of Pulp Fiction', Memento is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. It is no wonder that this movie is so popular with the movie going public around the world.
Leonard Shelby wears expensive, tailored suits, drives a late model Jaguar sedan, but lives in cheap, anonymous motels, paying his way with thick wads of cash. Although he looks like a successful businessman, his only work is the pursuit of vengeance: tracking and punishing the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that Leonard suffers from a rare, untreatable form of amnesia'. Although he can recall details of life before his accident' Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he is, where he is going, or why.
Christopher Nolan has made one great (but confusing) movie. His style in directing and editing Memento' is quite unique, as no movie has ever been made quite like it before. The story being told in a backward kind of motion makes the audience have to think hard about what they are watching. It also makes the audience feel for a guy like Leonard, whose condition only gets worse and worse as the movie goes on. I am almost 100% sure that Nolan and his brother Jonathan, made up this story in the realisation that it was meant to be confusing. What is also cleverly done by Nolan is the use of black and white and then colour shots. In my opinion, the variations in these shots are used so it confuses the audience even more.
Guy Pearce's role in Memento' shows me why he is so successful in Hollywood today. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, a man on the hunt for his wife's killer. The only problem is that Shelby is suffering from anterior-grade amnesia', a disease that cannot be treated. With Lenny', I feel the audience suffers partly the same condition as he does, and partly does not, as we can remember what has happened in the present.
Memento's other main stars include corrupt cop Teddy' (Joe Pantoliano). A friend said of Pantoliano's performance in Memento, he was perfect for the role of Teddy', as he comes across as the mysterious bad guy'. I could not agree more. There is also the character of Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) who is a lot like Teddy in her own way. What is similar about these characters is the way they use Leonard's condition to advantage their own situations.
Other characters include Sammy Jenkis (Stephen Tobolowsky), who is a victim we learn about from an old case when Leonard Shelby was an insurance investigator. There is Leonard's wife, Catherine (C.S.I.'s Jorja Fox) who is another fascinating character. Although we do not hear her say much, she is a vital part of this most confusing story. Add in the funny role of Burt (Mark Boone Jnr.), the motel clerk, who openly admits to Lenny that he is ripping him off, by giving him two rooms, but that he will not remember it happening anyway.
Yet in no way do any of the characters in Memento' realise they are in a time reversed movie. I am sure that many of the performers would have had to read their scripts many times to understand what was happening from a cinematic point of view. But from an acting prospective, this would have been an easy experience to be part of. Memento also has some interesting devices to tell the story. The way Leonard tries to remember things in the present and the future, via notes tattoos and photographs, making them an important element within the movie. Without them, our hero would not be able to remember anything.
Nonetheless, memory is the most vital element in this movie, because without it, people are confused, isolated and abused, which is what happens to our hero', Leonard. As Lenny mentions early on in the film, "Memory's unreliable ... Memory's not perfect. It's not even that good. Ask the police; eyewitness testimony is unreliable ... Memory can change the shape of a room or the colour of a car. It's an interpretation, not a record. Memories can be changed or distorted, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." But it has to be ironic that Leonard is the one who narrates Memento', when his recollections and memories of events are inaccurate and jaded. There are also some powerful scenes in Memento'. The one which sticks in my mind the most' has to be where Natalie abuses Leonard, calling his dead wife a whore', snorting smartly that you won't be even able to remember what I have said'.
So, if you watch this movie and it confuses you the first or even the second time, I can assure you that is how you are meant to feel, confused. If you hated watching Memento' the way Christopher Nolan intended, then I can only recommend that you get a hold of the DVD and watch it in chronological order, as it will really help you. Memento also shows how bad mental disease' patients can be abused by healthy people and what lengths sick patients will go to try and keep sane'. Also, if a movie makes you think, then in some way it has been successful in doing something that many movies do not do making you think. Those sorts of cinematic experiences are the ones that we need to cherish for life, as they are few and far between. Memento is one such experience.
CMRS gives Memento': 5 (Brilliant Movie)