Praelin

Not sure if this was posted about on the old board. My favorite movie of all time came out in like 2000 / 2001...I'd like to write a whole lot of different things on it, but i'll just copy and paste a review i did for school. Keep in mind, this review is for school, so it's academic like, and it sucks ass.

trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/memento.html


If I were to say Memento was the best movie I had ever seen, that would only slander its name. In all my sixteen and some odd years of movie watching, never have I seen such a breathtaking and exhilarating movie that shocked and amazed me at every scene. The story seems simple enough – One day, an insurance claims inspector named Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) heard some noises coming from his bathroom. Strange noises. He decided to get his gun, just in case it was serious. He opened the bathroom door and there lay his wife on the floor, being raped by one man and watched by another. Without thinking, almost like instinct, Leonard shot the man raping his wife, but he didn’t see the other man behind him. He was quickly rammed into a mirror in front of him, and was knocked unconscious. This is the last thing Leonard remembers. Because of the powerful thrust into his bathroom mirror, he sustains severe damage to his hippocampus. He has anterial-grade amnesia. He can’t make new memories. However, piecing together what he can remember from that night, and the battered police files he “borrowed” from the police, he dedicates his life to a mission: to avenge his wife, by poetic justice. He will murder his wife’s killer.

Memento is played in backwards order, so it can be confusing to the viewer. This is exactly why the movie is a masterpiece – it literally leaves the person guessing until the very end. And the order of playback isn’t the only confusing part. During the movie, you meet several characters that all associate with Leonard for their own devious purposes. Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss), the troubled young woman who “has also lost someone” convinces Leonard she is helping him “out of pity.” Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), a good friend of Leonard, a secretive and humorous cop who’s trying to help him, and the memory of Sammy Jankis, who had the same problem as Leonard, except he couldn’t make his life work. All these characters intricately and delicately woven into the complex plot that follows Leonard and his desperate urge for vengeance throughout the movie. But by the end of the movie, you may just ask yourself whose revenge it was.

The cinematics of Memento are incredible. They’re not too flashy, there is no use and no need of special effects, and they don’t try to force a message on you. They make you figure things out, and they make you pay attention, another reason the movie is so great. It’s never boring, there’s always something going on or something you have to figure out. And just when you think you’ve got it, everything changes. Sometimes, the movie changes themes. It flashes back to the time before the incident, of Leonard with his wife and the joy she brought him. Or it flashes to black and white, with Leonard in his motel room, talking to a stranger on the telephone as he outlines the police and their lack of interest on his case. And somehow, the conversation will always fall back to Sammy. Leonard will talk about Sammy, and how his wife begged Leonard for a judgment on his condition, how he acted, and how dissimilar he was from him. Then, suddenly, Leonard will take off a bandage, which tells him never to answer the phone.

Memento isn’t all theatrics. There is some humor, and intelligent humor at that. Leonard loses his motel key at one point, and asks the manager to open it up. Unfortunately, the manager forgot he moved him and rented another room – because business was slow. When Leonard asks how he could do something like that, the manager responds “It doesn’t matter, you won’t remember anyway.” Leonard feels he was a bit too honest with that remark, and the manager continues: “Always get a receipt.” Leonard smirks and says, “Hmm, I’d better write that down.” as he takes out a gigantic pile of notes, pictures, and miscellaneous garbage.

Memento is not for the faint of heart. It’s fast paced, confusing at times, and violent. It’s also touching, heart wrenching, and overall a valuable investment of your time. However, with all its positive attributes, Memento has one major design flaw: it’s only 116 minutes long.

sngx1275

I've seen it several times but always feel like I need to see it 1 more time to fully understand everything.
Doesn't the movie start out at the beginning and the end? Doesn't everytime it switches scenes play from the opposite end of the movie until the end of the actual movie is the middle of it? I haven't seen it in a while but I thought thats how I rememberd it went. Damn guess I'm goign to have to watch it again.... Not tonight though, about to head out to the bar.

Uuudar

i love this movie. one of my all time favorites

Latch

Shouldn't the title to this thread be:
Momento: Ever. Movie. Best.

?

l_o_c

Memento is clever and entertaining, but I'd have a hard time calling it great, much less the best movie ever.

CSflim

Hahaha! Brilliant!

Bonesaw

I watched it again last week. Definitely one movie I'd classify as a skull fucker.

Has anybody here watched the special edition DVD which allows you to watch it backwards.....or rather chronologically?


I've yet to watch it that way....I'm afraid it might ruin some of the mystery.

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Mr.Deflok

"Ok, so I'm chasing this guy... noo... he's chasing me..." (or something to that effect)

An incredibly brillaint movie, I recommend Christopher Nolan's FOLLOWING, this movie blew me away slightly more than MEMENTO. I wasn't too big a fan of INSOMNIA but Nolan did one hell of a job at capturing Insomniac Dreariness.

Bonesaw

Yeah Insomnia wasn't too bad a film but it was definitely praised more than it deserved.

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Gortexfogg

Memento was great and all, but not the best movie ever. It's up there, but has Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, Casablanca and more in front of it.

Reese

One thing I haven't really figured out yet... Who was he talking to on the phone? It was an excellent movie but I dont want to say it was the best ever, I wouldn't say that any one movie is best ever.

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Mr.Deflok

Too true cybermike, it's like asking a mother to tell her children which one she loves the most.

Mr.Deflok

But if I had to choose, Seven Samurai, nothing compares to it's shear brilliance (of the films that I have seen )

Unknown Poster

My take is that he was talking to Teddy on the phone, who was sending Leonard to the abandoned building to kill Jimmy.

Bonesaw

I wish they showed the scene with Leonard talking to Dodd. Cuz the way that Dodd was after him you'd think that Dodd was out for blood and there is no way in hell that he would have let Lenny out of the car and just drive off.....Or did Lenny give him the straight dope and tell Dodd that he is only faking his memory condition to end up killing Teddy? Hrmmm?

Now I gotta watch the movie again.

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Asuka{eve}

I loved that movie. someone lent it to me and I was like OMG when I saw it. I like how it goes backwards. To me its a mustsee.

sngx1275

someone please explain it all to me

Cuball

there is a version on the net with the scene is chronological order ... weird stuff :-)

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nebbugvrok

yeah it's great, the script is great and very clever, allthough the acting is decent but nothing special. But IMO not the best.

Shadowman

Your right sngx1275. The movie is played backwards from the middle, to the start and end. It's rather confusing, but neverless a fantastic movie!

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oldtimer

"Now, where was I?"........

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nine

I thought it was really bad. If you watch the film forwards (get the DVD) its like well crap.

Says a lot if a film is only any good if you have to watch it backwards

ElwoodBlues

Well, here goes me resurrecting a two year old thread.....

I finally found the Special Edition DVD this weekend, and I felt the need to post about it. Still an amazing movie. Absolutely mind blowing. I also found the easter egg on the DVD to watch the movie in chronological order, which was pretty interesting. And to comment on something someone said two years ago....

You don't watch the film backwards in the first place, to be technical. The color scenes start from the end and go back. The black and white scenes start at the beginning and go forward. The meet in the middle, which is the end of the movie.

It takes very clever writing, and quite a hell of a lot of intellect to write a story where the middle is the climax. Where everything that you think from the end of the storyline is completely wrong. Simply a cinematic masterpiece

That is all.

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Hain

Yes this was one of the exceptional mind-fucking movies. I think someone should make a thread solely of the mindfucks. Or if there is one, point me in the right direction.

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Charlatan

If you liked this film you should really check out Nicholas Roeg's film Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession.


It plays with memory and perception in a very similar way...

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the_marq

Having loved this movie I am very much looking forward to "The Jacket" starring Adrian Brody. From the trailers it looks to have some simliar themes of time perception and memory failures. Check it out.

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#3 in a series

former newt

i can't think of a movie that entertained me more than memento.

of course star wars is probably one of my favorite all time series of movies, but that's an appeal in a different way. memento has to be my favorite movie.

Gilda

The chronological structure of the movie is absolutely essential to its effectiveness. The black and white sections serve to set up the background--they're all exposition, but they're necessary to understanding the story, and they wouldn't really work anywhere else.

The color sections must be told in reverse chronological order. It simulates Leonard's condition for the audience. Leonard comes to each scene unaware of what led him to that point, and so do we as an audience.

For a couple of other reverse chronological order movies, you can try Irreversible a French movie starring Monica Belucci and some French guys about a man seeking revenge for the brutal rape of his girlfriend, and Betrayal which is about an extramarital affair.

Unright

If you liked Memento, you should check out Following. Same director, same style of movie, but he didn't have the memory-lapse gimmick that made Memento great.

Jimellow

I rented this movie, but can't figure out how to watch it. I have run through these mental health questions three times now.. It's getting a bit old, as I'd like to watch the movie before I get tired.

How do you actually watch the movie, instead of getting the director commentary?

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Gilda

Turn off the director commentary from the special features menu, then hit play from the main screen.

Gilda

Jimellow

Thanks for the reply.

As it turns out, Blockbuster sent me the 2nd DVD, which has extra features and commentary, but no movie. I spent an hour trying to navigate the various mental health questions, in the hopes of watching a movie that wasn't even on the disc.

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Fremen

Is it wrong that I laughed?

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crow_daw

No doubt Memento is on my All Time Best Ever List as well. I absolutely love it.

And also, IMHO, Nolan did an absolutely amazing job of resurrecting the long-suffering Batman franchise.

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