Memento (2000)

Memento (2000)

10/10

Starring
Guy Pearce
Carrie-Anne Moss
Joe Pantoliano


Directed by Christopher Nolan

Memento is not just a movie—it’s a work of art. The editing is at its best, continuity is at its max, and the script draws you in completely. The screenplay is masterful; as you watch the movie unfold in reverse, you begin to feel like Leonard himself.

Memento was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who adapted it from his younger brother Jonathan Nolan’s short story Memento Mori. (Jonathan later became the creator, writer, and executive producer of Person of Interest.)

The brothers started working on the film in 1996 when Jonathan pitched the story to Christopher during a road trip. They exchanged ideas back and forth as Christopher developed his film from a short story about a man named Earl, a patient in a mental institution. Like Leonard, Earl’s wife was killed by an anonymous man. During the attack, Earl lost his ability to create new long-term memories and, through written notes to himself, convinces himself to escape the institution and track down his wife’s murderer.

The movie starts at the end and runs backward, showing us what led up to that point. It unfolds in two parallel sequences—one in black and white, shown chronologically, and the other in color, shown in reverse. The two storylines converge at the film’s climax, revealing what set everything in motion.

The plot follows Leonard (Guy Pearce), a man with anterograde amnesia, which prevents him from forming new explicit memories. To keep track of his life, he relies on notes, tattoos, and Polaroid photos to remember where he is, who he knows, and what he’s doing—or about to do.

Leonard’s condition began when he was hit in the head while witnessing his wife being raped and murdered. Now, he has only one goal: to track down a certain John G, whom he believes killed his wife.

Rated as one of the best films of the 2000s, Memento has appeared on numerous top movie lists. It was a box office success, earning almost ten times its production cost and putting Nolan’s name on the radar of major studios, including Warner Bros. There, he went on to direct The Dark Knight Trilogy and later collaborated with them on Man of Steel (2013).

Memento received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for two Academy Awards—Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. If you haven’t seen this classic yet, it’s definitely worth your time.