Forget Me Not
Storytelling Makes Memento Memorable

I have to admit, when I first described the premise of Memento to a friend, it sounded like an old skit from "Saturday Night Live." See the guy without any short-term memory try to solve a crime. Hey, it's funny stuff when Tom Hanks does it. But this isn't SNL and this isn't funny...

Memento has to be one of the most original and interesting films I have seen since last year's widely-ignored Magnolia. Yet, this may be a case of too much for the common moviegoer, which is why you may not see Memento playing in your local 30-theater cineplex.

The beauty of Memento is in the storytelling. It begins at the end, with Leonard Shelby (Guy Pierce) killing a man. Through a series of craftily edited chapters, the film proceeds to tell the story in reverse.

Why? Because the protagonist of the story, one Leonard Shelby, is a man with a major disability: he can't form new memories. As a result, he can never remember what came before this moment. The audience, because of the backward storytelling, must pull together the clues of Leonard's life to understand why the story ends (or rather begins) with a murder.

This is a phenomenally told story, if you can follow it. Leonard must rely on photographs of people and places to remind him of what he knows, and these photos are also a key for the audience who need to know what Leonard knows at this moment.

There are some lighter moments, most a result of Leonard's inability to grasp a situation that he has forgotten, but this is as hard-boiled of a murder mystery as you can get. The character interaction is equally intriguing and compelling.

Assisting Leonard in his quest are Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), his "friend" whose photo bears the ominous warning "Don't believe his lies," and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), a beaten woman who is helping Leonard find information about the man known as John G. Both of them give strong performances, but they must take a back seat to Pierce. His focused portrayal of Leonard is nothing short of outstanding.

This is a film you will want to see more than once. I can only hope that when the DVD is released that there will be an option to watch the chapters in reverse order (that is, forward) to see if it all makes better sense.

MY RATING: 9 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 116 min.