The film Memento is a psychological thriller
film, which was released in 2001. It follows Leonard Shelby who lives his life
through photographs, notes, and tattoos due to his anterograde amnesia. This
disease makes it impossible for Leonard to store recent memories. The amnesia
is the result of being attacked by two men who raped and killed his wife. Since
this is the last moments Leonard can remember, he makes it his mission to find
the second man, who’s name is John or Jimmy, involved in the innocent and make
him pay for what he did. Memento is
shot in a sequence of black and white as well as color shots. The
series in black-and-white are shown chronologically and a series of color sequences
shown in reverse order.
In Memento timeline, Leonard gets a tattoo,
based on instructions given to himself, of the license plate of John G. After finding
a note on his person, he meets Natalie, a bartender who dislikes Leonard since
he is wearing the clothes and drives the car of her boyfriend, Jimmy. After finding
out about his condition, she uses it to her advantage. She get Leonard to drive
a man named Dodd out of town and offers to run the license plate to help his
investigation. During this time, Leonard meets with a contact named Teddy.
Teddy helps with Dodd but warns him about Natalie. However, Leonard doesn’t
believe him and has a photo of Teddy with the saying that he is not to be
trusted. Natalie gives Leonard information about the driver's license.
The owner of the license is a John
Edward Gammell, which is Teddy's full name. Confirming Leonard's information on
"John G" and his warnings, Leonard meets Teddy and drives him to an
abandoned building, killing him as shown in the opening of the movie. In the
end, it is found out that “John G” was actually killed a year ago. Since “John
G” is such a common name and Leonard always forgets memories, he always will
continue his search. Leonard doesn’t believe Teddy and writes down Teddy’s
license plate number, which leads to the events that happened in the beginning
of the movie. Memento is a movie full of plot twist and sequences I had no idea
they were coming.
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| My reaction when I finally understood the movie! |
The way the
movie is presented is confusing at first but makes for a really excited as well
as psychological joy ride of a movie. I feel like if the movie was played out
in a more “traditional” way it wouldn’t have been as good. The movie displays
the life of somebody with amnesia very well to the point where it convinced me
to think a certain way. While I was confused in the beginning of the movie,
everything became very clear in the middle of the movie and the end of the film
blew me away by the events I just watched. I would grade the film an A because
it kept my attention from start to finish even if I was confused for a little
part of the movie. I enjoy movies that make you think and use your mind. I
believe it deserves all of the awards it has received for being such a great
movie. Memento is a great movie but I
recommend to watch it when you are not half asleep from your Easter brunch
because it make your brain think when all your brain is thinking about is nap
time.
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