Memento was easily one of my blind spot films that I was most excited to watch. It's Stevee Taylor's favorite movie of all time, which in itself is worth a thousand reasons I should watch it, and in the top 10 of countless lists floating around the internet - including many an IMDB Top list. In contrary to many other of my blind spots, I actually knew about Memento a long time before I moved to the island of film lovers (as Ryan McNeil - sort of - puts it: the more movies you watch, the more blind spots you never even knew you had, you discover). I owe this knowledge to one of the sides of Indian cinema that I've always been critical of: it's affection for remaking films from other corners of the world (primarily Hollywood blockbusters). So Ghajini, a 2008 Bollywood hit remake of Memento, marked my first encounter with the Memento Mori story. Ironically enough, this movie was also a Hindi-language remake of the 2005 Kollywood (Tamil-language) film of the same name by the same director. At any rate, Ghajini was fairly enjoyable, mainly because of its cinematography and the man who turns iron into gold, Indian superstar Aamir Khan. However, it didn't ignite a burning desire to watch the original Memento in me.
Six years later, I'm a movie buff who is exposed to many film titles and sort of knows her way around the 'big ones', even those I haven't seen yet. Memento definitely rings many bells, and more so: it's on my highly-guarded watch list (which I recently decided won't be updated until I've seen all of it). Now that I've seen it, I can only join the choir of adoration for this film. It is by far the most thrilling film I have seen in a long time and defines 'not being able to take your eyes off the screen' anew. This has little to do with Guy Pearce's spectacular body (seriously, how does he remember to keep in shape *plot hole*?) and much with the way this story is told. Personally, I have always been a believer in the "It's not about what you do, it's about the way you do it" philosophy (yep, that's a Remember Me quote right there), which is why I tend towards the well-shot, well-edited, stylized kind of films more often than I probably should. Memento is one of the best arguments why I'm right though: it certainly is an interesting story and a psychological drama but that's not what makes it so awesome in any way possible. No, it's the backwards narration that makes this film deserve its place among the films that everyone should see once in their life time.
Watching Memento made me bite my nails, tear out my hair and crush my favorite teddy bear. It's a film that stands out not only because it's one of the few films I watched this month and it's one that I am going to re-watch many a time in the future. Well... if I remember to do so.
MEMENTO
2000 • USA • English
director Christopher Nolan
authors Christopher Nolan, (Jonathan Nolan)
★ Guy Pearce, Cary-Anne moss, Joe Pantoliano
final frame STRAWBERRY EXPLOSION
NEXT IN THE SERIES: AMERICAN HISTORY X
Great write up! Glad you finally saw this. This is what started Nolan's rapid succession of fame, and rightfully so. It's such an inspired film.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm surprised to see that Nolan has made so few films but I must admit I haven't seen many of them (leaving aside the fact that I don't remember much of TDK). So this was a great place to start.
DeleteThis film is so extraordinary. I feel like I noticed something differently every time I watch it.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm expecting from future watches too. Kind of reminds me of Fight Club.
DeleteMemento is one of those movies where you can be spoiled on a lot of it, and it still can totally surprise you. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I still have a pretty clear memory. I'm glad you finally got the chance to catch up with it!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sure that's true. I'm still glad I didn't know the ending though.
DeleteI am glad to have found this blog. Also glad you have "found" this movie. It is an absolute treasure. Great review.
ReplyDeleteSame here, I'm glad to have you as a reader! And this movie is just awesome.
Delete"Memories are unreliable"
ReplyDelete...pardon me while I go huddle and cry at that very bleak thought - perhaps the most depressing detail of this ah-maz-ing movie. Something that always depresses me when I think about this film is how Leonard is surrounded with nothing but people looking to use him.
The clerk uses him for more money, Teddy uses him to kill suspects, Natalie uses him to kill Teddy. They all exploit the fact that his condition prevents him from refusing their abuse...it's like hopping on the back of handicapped person's scooter to get down the street faster.
Glad you finally caught up with this movie, and as mentioned do see if you can ever watch the version where it plays "in-sequence" to see how it holds up.
I cannot wait to see that version, I'll probably do it next year. You have a good point there. When I watched the movie, I found this to be amusing at times (the clerk showing him the rooms) and frightening at other (the scene with Natalie). Such a great movie.
Delete"Watching Memento made me bite my nails, tear out my hair and crush my favorite teddy bear."
ReplyDeleteThat's is a perfect line to encapsulate the tension of this film. One of my favorite flicks ever!
Hahah, it actually rhymes, I never noticed. Good to hear it's one of your favorites, it deserves all the love it gets.
DeleteVery cool review. I have never heard of the Bollywood version of this before. I may have to seek that one out at some point. Glad to read that you liked this flick and I agree with Alex about the line you used to describe watching it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vern! It's okay, definitely, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're thrown off by a lot of typical song-and-dance as well as Bollywood-esque action (meaning unrealistic action). But I enjoyed it, fairly.
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