Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) shine in this absolute stunner of a movie. Memento combines a bold, mind-bending script with compelling action and virtuoso performances. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, hunting down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The problem is that "the incident" that robbed Leonard of his wife also stole his ability to make new memories. Unable to retain a location, a face, or a new clue on his own, Leonard continues his search with the help of notes, Polaroids, and even homemade tattoos for vital information.

Because of his condition, Leonard essentially lives his life in short, present-tense segments, with no clear idea of what's just happened to him. That's where Memento gets really interesting; the story begins at the end, and the movie jumps backward in 10-minute segments. The suspense of the movie lies not in discovering what happens, but in finding out why it happened. Amazingly, the movie achieves edge-of-your-seat excitement even as it moves backward in time, and it keeps the mind hopping as cause and effect are pieced together.

Pearce captures Leonard perfectly, conveying both the tragic romance of his quest and his wry humor in dealing with his condition. He is bolstered by several excellent supporting players, and the movie is all but stolen from him by Pantoliano, who delivers an amazing performance as Teddy, the guy who may or may not be on his side. Memento has an intriguing structure and even meditations on the nature of perception and meaning of life if you go looking for them, but it also functions just as well as a completely absorbing thriller. It's rare to find a movie this exciting with so much intelligence behind it. --Ali Davis

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::AMAZON REVIEWS::

Memento
Leonard is an insurance investigator whose memory has been damaged following a head injury he sustained after intervening on his wife's murder. His quality of life has been severely hampered after this event, and he can now only live a comprehendable life by tattooing notes on himself and taking pictures of things with a Polaroid camera. The movie is told in forward flashes of events that are to come that compensate for his unreliable memory, during which he has liaisons with various complex characters. Leonard badly wants revenge for his wife's murder, but, as numerous characters explain, there may be little point if he won't remember it in order to provide closure for him. The movie veers between these future occurrences and a telephone conversation Leonard is having in his motel room in which he compares his current state to that of a client whose claim he once dealt with. If you're looking for something intense, suspenseful, and different than your usual effects-packed thriller, this is the best movie. It's brilliant story telling. You might get frustrated because you don't know what's going on. That's okay. In fact, that's the whole idea. Sit back and find out just how twisted and complex Leonard's world is. You'll have a hard time forgetting how much you enjoyed it.

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See It Again To Appreciate It Even More
I saw this film when it first came out in theaters about 10 years ago. As has been well described in other reviews, it's a brilliant psychological thriller that keeps you guessing as you see each scene the way the main character would- without any memory of what came before. As the film progresses, into the past, the mystery is gradually revealed, and what we find out at the end, which is what happened at the beginning, gives new meaning to everything that came after. Sound confusing? Well it is. Which is why the film is worth seeing again.

Seeing it again after 10 years was a strange experience, and even more fulfilling than the first time. That's because I didn't remember how the story ended (or began), so I could appreciate the unraveling of the mystery anew. And yet, with each new plot detail revealed, I began to have vague recollections of what would happen next. That made each scene more significant and enjoyable.

To put it another way, when you see the film the first time, you're mostly in the dark about what's really going on until the end. And by then you may have forgotten much of what you saw because you didn't know it mattered at the time. Seeing it again, each detail becomes richer in meaning, the film seems deeper, and I could appreciate it on another level.

When you get past the superficial level of the plot mystery, what remains is a meditation on how we choose who we are in the world, and the role that memory plays.

After seeing this film, you may feel just a bit queasy, as you consider whether the foundation of your reality is as firm as you thought. We are, after all, what we know. And we know only what we can remember. And memory is imperfect at best, and may in fact be just a well-crafted illusion to create the world we want to live in. In that world, the meaning we bring to each new day is just a product of the memories we carry with us. There is a little bit of Leonard Shelby in all of us.

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Complex, Confusing Story on Revenge and Remembering -
This is a intricate crime story, and somewhat confusing to watch. The main character, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) has lost his short-term memory. His long-term memory is intact. He can remember details and everything that happened before his "accident", but cannot retain what he has done or said five or ten minutes after doing anything (anterograde amnesia). He is unsure of who to trust, who are his friends, what is true and his only goal is revenge, finding the man who raped and murdered his wife. He is focused only on justice.

He is well-built, thin, handsome, wearing expensive suits, driving an expensive jaguar, but lives in ratty, run-down motels, paying cash for all he wants. He is a former insurance investigator, very aware of his handicap, explaining to people in great detail why he has trouble knowing them or remembering what he told them. He has to rely on others, his index cards, photos, and skin tattoos to latch on to his past thoughts and observations.

Leonard has psychological issues as he fights and struggles to interpret the evidence he finds and keeps on index cards and hiding places. The film starts from the endpoint, the murder of "Teddy" known as John Edward Gammell. The film re-winds and stalls in the present at times - it is complex and confusing to refigure the frames and realize how the meaning of events changes. The bad and good criss-cross as the story unfolds. It seems the color scenes are shown in reverse order and black and white are chronological. The two sequences come together at the end of the film.

Leonard meets a woman named Natalie after finding a note in his clothes. Natalie at first is angry and resentful because she identifies Leonard with the clothes and car of her boyfriend Jimmy. After being educated about Leonard's short-term memory she uses him to drive a threatening man out of town. She offers to run the license plate on Leonard's latest tattoo to help in his investigation.

The ending is somewhat of a surprise if you can figure out the movie's timeline.

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Incredible
You've already read how this movie was made in all these other reviews. I'll just add that this is a great movie, and it stays with you afterward. A day lateer, you'll still be saying to yourself "Oh! That's why such and such happened!". Don't miss it. You'll love it.

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Memento
We have been sent a DVD that is for Region 1.... therefore we cannot play it in Australia. Amazon should be aware of this and make sure that the correct DVDs are sent to the relevant regions.

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