Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

So it's a movie that is supposed to go backwards. How in the world can you possibly follow the plot of a movie like that? Wouldn't the sound go backwards too? How could you understand what they were saying? Or would there be subtitles or something like that?

These are the kinds of things that went through my head when I first heard about Memento. All kinds of questions, because honestly I had no clue how a backwards movie could be made possible. This whole thing with taking pictures and writing notes, I didn't get that either. How would he even know that he was the one who had written the note? How would he know that he was the one that took the picture? I only assume that if you haven't seen it yet, you wonder about it too.

Well, it's this kind of uncertainty that plagues the life of anyone who lives with the short-term memory loss disorder that Leonard (Guy Pearce, or is it Billy Idol?) has in this movie. About a year ago, Leonard was attacked, his wife was murdered, and he was left unable to remember any farther back than five or ten minutes. He can remember everything that happened in his life up until the attack, but from that point on, all he has to go by is what has just happened in the last five or ten minutes. (Or even five to ten seconds, if he is distracted.) He forgets people that he has met, things that he has done, and even how he came to own his very possessions, like his car (that's a real doozy). Short-term memory loss becomes a greater villain in Memento than any human being.

And, of course, it wouldn't be any fun if the audience knew everything that had happened while Leonard couldn't remember any of it. This is why the scenes play in backwards order! Memento takes the greatest villain of all, and applies it not only to Leonard, but to the audience as well. We find ourselves watching a scene where we have no idea what events transpired beforehand to "set it up". We, like Leonard, suddenly lose all knowledge of what happened seconds or minutes before, and we have to "deal with the situation" our own way. This results in characters being introduced after they've been dealt with, unclear beginnings leading to clearer endings, and manipulation up the wazoo. We can only watch as Leonard tries to deal with his own situation, and in this way, we really sympathize with the guy.

Well, eventually I figured this much out before I had seen the movie, the way the scenes worked. Every scene ends the way the one before it began. But it still bothered me. What was going to happen between the scenes? Just a blank screen, and on to the "next" scene? Because really, that seems awfully impersonal. Well, call this a case of WYSINNWYG. (See the end of the review for the answer!)

In between each scene are these little black and white "break scenes", you might call them. Instead of adding on to the plot, at first they simply introduce you to Leonard's way of life. There is some narration, but most of the talking that goes on in there is on the phone. These particular scenes start out slowly, with Leonard describing his "system" for remembering things, and eventually leads to him talking on the phone with some mysterious caller. Why the caller kept calling him just to hear about this guy named Sammy Jankis, I still have no idea after watching it eight times. But that's beside the point. This eventually ties into the plot, as these black and white scenes go forward as they appear, and eventually, the backwards scenes and the forward ones will collide, leading to the grand speech which may or may not go over your head, and may or may not answer your questions. It depends on what questions you ask.

For the most part, Memento plays out half as a movie, and half as a sort of documentary on what life is like with short-term memory loss. The plot itself is not complicated at all; if you were to copy the scenes one by one in the right order and then play it back, it wouldn't be that great of a movie. The real intrigue of the movie is in trying to figure out the characters' true motives, and what the heck's going on!

Natalie, for one, played by Carrie-Anne Moss (who also played Trinity in The Matrix) is one of the more mysterious characters. On that first shot of her, I swear I thought it was Julia Roberts. Must've been the shades. It's a less "kick-a*ss" role than what she had in The Matrix, but she slips right in and lives that character's life very believably.

Joe Patoliano plays as Teddy, definitely the oddest character of them all. Joe's one of those guys where everybody knows somebody who looks like him, or at least if you don't know someone who looks like him, you probably know someone who has the same name. Teddy is a friend (or is he?) of Leonard, but the opening sequence shows Teddy getting his brains blown out by Leonard. (Oops, did I just spoil the ending?) So throughout the whole movie, we're led to believe that Teddy is the one who killed Leo's wife.

Of course, any aspiring movie buff will tell you that no movie should ever be completely predictable, and definitely not that predictable. Even a backwards movie can't be predictable. If anything, the biggest lesson you can learn from this movie is that memory is unreliable. That the past changes. That "memories are just an interpretation, they're not a record." That what you think you saw, you may not have.

Personally, I get kinda peeved if someone tries to tell me that what I think I saw, I might not have. It's like Bastian's father says on The Never Ending Story 2, "What I see is what I see, when I see it!"

Some people will tell you that you can grasp everything about Memento in one sitting. But after several viewings, there were still many small questions that get answered that I hadn't noticed or even thought about the first time around, such as why Teddy keeps asking Leonard for the keys to his Jaguar.

One thing you can bet about Memento, though. It won't be easy at all to "duplicate" it and get away with it. Armageddon and Deep Impact were nearly identical in many ways, but they were still two different movies. If another backwards movie comes along, it won't be easy to escape the labels of "copycat" that will inevitably get slapped onto the "next" backwards movie, if there is one.

This is definitely one movie that, if you enjoy it, will more than likely have you scrambling to the nearest movie message board to see what people have to say about it. I've had more fun sharing theories about this movie, what the truth is, who certain characters really could be. First thing you should do, though, before you try to discuss it with anybody, is to visit the Memento website at

http://www.otnemem.com

Most people who have seen the movie have also seen the site, which shares a little extra info about Leonard's past.

I'm really lovin' this top ten thing; I guess I'll do my favorite ten quotes from Memento this time.

10.) "Must be hard living your life according to a few scraps of paper. You mix your grocery list with your laundry list and you end up eating your underwear for breakfast." ~Natalie

9.) "You did." ~Dodd, after Leonard asks him "Who did this to you?"

8.) "Sammy, it's time for my shot." ~Sammy's wife

7.) "My wife deserves vengeance. It doesn't make a difference whether I remember it. Just because there are things that I don't remember, doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?" ~Leonard

6.) "No, just as long as you, uh, remember to pay the rent." ~Burt

5.) "Memories are just an interpretation; they're not a record. And they're irrelevant if you have the facts." ~Leonard

4.) "You know, I've had more rewarding friendships than this. Although I do get to keep telling the same jokes." ~Teddy

3.) "So you lie to make yourself happy, nothing wrong with that. Everybody does it! So what if there's a few little details you'd rather not remember?" ~Teddy, in a climactic line that comes across as anticlimactic because by then, you're so confused!

2.) "LLLLLENNY!" ~Teddy; This quote comes at the beginning of the first scene, and at the end of the second scene (which of course comes before the first one), and is the perfect way to get the audience into the Memento momentum.

1.) "Yeah. I got a reason." ~Leonard (The look on his face is PRICELESS when he says this line.)

(The Answer:
"What you see is not necessarily what you get.")




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older