Saturday, June 5, 2010

Capsule Review: Memento (2000)

A brilliant, though potentially gimmicky, premise surrounds Christopher Nolan's breakthrough film Memento, a neo-noir mystery concerning a man searching for his wife's killer while suffering from anterograde amnesia, which renders his brain unable to store new memories. Somewhat against all odds this unfolds perfectly thanks to a brilliant screenplay by Nolan (based on a short story by his brother Jonathan) which delivers information in fits and starts while - brilliantly - presenting the scenes in reverse chronological order. The central plot is broken up by black and white sequences which provide for some exposition while hinting at the bigger mystery to come. Despite early confusion, this is a real winner of a film featuring a great lead performance by Guy Pearce as Leonard, the memorably tattooed protagonist and both Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss giving strikingly sleazy support.

1 comment:

J.T. said...

Carrie Ann Moss's character made our Greatest Douchebags of Moviedom list.

Hopefully folks will watch this movie and discover that the ranking was honestly deserved.

What a performance she put in.