Reader's Review

Are you the type of person who likes to go to the movies for sheer, thoughtless entertainment? Is your favourite movie of all time Rambo? Was the plot of Charlie's Angels are real brain teaser? If you answered yes to all these questions don't bother reading on. Because Memento is a film not only not for the faint of heart, but definitely not for the faint of mind.

The first perplexing aspect of the film is that the story is told backwards. Yes, you heard me correct, sdrawkcab. But don't be discouraged because this is overcome very quickly and actually adds a degree of intellectual 'fun' to the proceedings. At the end of each scene we then see the end of the scene that came before, if you get what I mean. Well, you will.

And from here the 'different' aspects of the film continue. This basically comes down to the plot. The plot involves a man (played by former Neighbours star Guy Pearce) who is out to avenge the murder of his wife. The film opens as the character kills the person who killed his wife (?) and then backtracks to how we got to that point, and the different thing is that the explanations of what happened and the whodunnit 'twist' (if you want to reduce this masterpiece to that shallow level) comes at the beginning which comes at the end. Confused? You will be. And to add salt to the wounds, or cream to the cake depending on how you look at it, Pearce's character can not remember anything after two minutes of learning it, from the moment his wife died. He remembers everything that came before that.

With a plot as ingenious yet confusing as this film has, it would be very easy for a director to ruin the film with over zealous and incomprehensible direction. However, director Christopher Nolan knows how to let us absorb all the complexities. He has a calm way with cameras and just lets us view what is going on without thrusting it in our face. Of course he is assisted by a fine cinematographer who knows just how to provide the right atmosphere, a great script and a very capable group of actors. Carrie-Anne Moss is particularly good in what I thought was the most interesting role in the film. Her character is complex and her performance affecting. There is one scene where she will have you absolutely riveted. See the film and you will know exactly what scene I refer to.