Went out to see Memento last night. I’d been curious about this one ever since I started hearing about it, and even more curious once I saw the trailer. The main character has suffered a brain injury, and has a condition where he cannot form any new memories. The last thing he can actually remember is his wife’s murder — everything else that happens to him fades in a few minutes. He can’t remember anyone for more than just a couple minutes, if conversations last too long he won’t know how they got started…interesting enough on its own, but during the film, he’s actually trying to track down the man who raped and killed his wife. Notes all over the place, key clues tattooed onto his body…a man obsessed, but incapacitated by being completely limited to short term memory. In addition, the film is told in an extremely ‘dis-linear’ (the director’s term) style…in other words, it doesn’t start at the beginning and end at the end. Similar to Pulp Fiction, only more. Very, very cool — certainly the best film I’ve seen so far in 2001, and I’m so looking forward to it coming out for sale — I need to watch it quite a few more times just to make sure I’m seeing everything correctly!
Memento
This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on May 4, 2001). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.