Best place to end is the beginning
I’m surprised, Christopher Nolan didn’t get an Oscar for this movie! What kind of jokers sit on the Oscars committee!
Memento is the most innovative, original and memorable movie I have ever seen. A bold experiment deftly executed to perfection. It deserves more stars than the measly five afforded by MS. Makes me feel shameful for being overgenerous with my ratings. If I use Memento as the yardstick most other movies will get measly one or two stars. Not the regular movie that can be watched at leisure. It’s brainy and makes you think and... remember.
Nitty-Gritties
Shot on a shoe-string budget over a period of 25 days, it’s shorn of any spectacular special effects or Computer Animation that we have come to consider standard. But, sheer brilliance lies in the way the movie has been shot. The whole movie moves backwards in time every 15 minutes. That’s exactly the amount of time a patient suffering from short-term memory loss can hold on to his memories before losing them forever. The way the protagonist uses notes, charts, polaroid photos with footnotes, tattoos to remember main facts is shot dexterously.
Nolan lets reality unfold backwards with every reel. Explanations are offered for the previous scene with the next. With every scene the perception of old truth shatters and a new truth surfaces. The story peels in layers uncovering newer levels reality. There’s a parallel B&W track that shows the protagonist chatting on phone about ShyamSundar... I mean Sammy Jankis and his memory problems, which seamlessly(!) gets merged on to the backward flow of the story. And the viewer gets shoved to a shocking ending - which is actually the beginning of the story.
Acting
Memento, more or less, revolves round these three characters.
Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby (Lenny) - A former insurance agent whose suffering from short-term memory loss. Trying to find and kill his wife’s rapist and murderer John G., overcoming his memory loss through keeping mementos. Amazing acting.
Carrie-Ann Moss as Natalie - A friend who has suffered a personal loss. Will help Lenny for sympathy? CAM shows she’s got more than black-tights to showcase.
Joe Pantaliano as Teddy - A friend, or a crook who’s using Lenny? The badass Cypher of Matrix. An irritating person. Don’t believe his lies - the footnote says. But he’s helping Lenny! Why? Is he the culprit Lenny’s looking for?
Amazing acting by the three lead actors and the way they are portrayed with every rewind turns the movie into a milestone in movie making.
Memento
I CAN’T TELL YOU THE STORY! IT’S NOT REGULAR POPCORN FARE. YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT FOR YOURSELF.
Phew... I’ve got an amazing storytelling talent.
Remember ShyamSundar?
Why does this guy (shyamwipro) write his entire bio - ShyamSundar, Design Analyst, Bangalore - as his title? Does he suffer from ’’anterograde amnesia’’ - the inability to form and hold onto short term memories? Has he also got it tattooed across his chest? Hmmm... needs investigation.
It reminds me of some movie. Now What was it?
Title : Best place to begin is at the ending.