Memento

Guy Pearce plays Leonard, an insurance guy who now suffers from amnesia due to a head injury from when he and his wife were attacked. His wife was killed, and now he lives for revenge…needing to kill the second attacker that he knows was present during the attack, but who the police refuse to believe exists. He basically has to tattoo himself with important information and constantly take polaroids just to get through each day and continue with his own little personal investigation.
This film is kinda broken into two parts…approx. a quarter is in black and white, while the rest is in colour. The part that is in colour shows Leonards investigation, and what he’s doing to find and murder this man that supposedly attacked him and killed his wife. The thing is, it’s all backwards…so the film starts off, and we actually see who Leonard ends up killing…concluding them as his wife’s murderer. The other part of the film, the black and white portion, is telling us a little bit about Leonards amnesia in the form of a phone call. Leonard is is discussing a former client, Sammy, with an unkown caller, and Sammy had the same sort of condition that Leonard now has. This part of the movie actually plays in chronological order…so in the end of the film, they both kind of come together quite well.
One of my favourite things about this movie is how it made me feel…it was filmed and edited in a way that was very quick and left you with many questions, never fully understanding everything. The fact that the majority of the movie was backwards, made you feel how you would imagine Leonard feeling…totally confused. You never had any background as to why something was happening…you just witnessed it, and found out why later. The quick editing and pace also kept you from really analyzing the movie for too long…just adding to my constant feeling of being a little bit lost throughout the movie.
I also loved how it was so NOT what I expected! The whole ‘guy with amnesia’ trying to solve a mystery isn’t exactly the most unique story…and the technique of showing the scenes backwards isn’t terribly unique either…but, they way they put it together just totally worked, and made it unique!
The acting left me feeling indifferent…which is my only complaint…which is good! My complaint isn’t even bad…its just a lack of…great. I do agree with their choice of casting Guy Pearce though…Brad Pitt was originally the first choice for Leonard, and he wanted to accept, but it ended up not working schedule wise, and don’t get me wrong, I like Brad Pitt…but I don’t think an A-list actor would have been right for that role.
Anyway, this film was totally engaging, I loved it, and I would love to see it again sometime soon. I recommend it 100%