Memento is a right of passage movie – the kind of movie 19 year olds watch and decide, “holy hell, cinema is cool.” Call it the most cinematic mainstream film or the most mainstream serious film of the last 20 years, Memento also marks the beginning of the reign of Christopher Nolan. A deep and gripping meditation on forgetting helmed by a technical virtuoso, Memento is a puzzling emotional trip.
"The young British writer and director Christopher Nolan, who has every intention of putting us through the mill, doubles his fun by running the whole story backward."
— Anthony Lane
"It's all pretty confusing, but then again, so were many of the classic film noirs."
— Peter Rainer
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.
Oscars
2 nominations
Venice
1 nomination
Golden Globes
1 nomination
Sundance
1 win
Nat. Board of Review
1 nomination
The story of Leonard mixes constantly with Sammy history, a old client that suffers from the same condition. The movie runs backwards but have a really impressive organization and logical thinking. The end it’s not what you were waiting for, leaving the viewer desperately trying to pick up all the facts and coming to logical outcome. The story itself it’s not the most important part of the movie, but the way the director narrate it that is memorable.