frustrating (Memento (DVD))

Member Name: itsonlyme

Product:	Memento (DVD)
Date:	23/06/01 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great all the way through, ...

Disadvantages: ...until the end!

Everyone has heard of memento right? Everyone loves memento right? Umm wrong on the second point!

Since its release at the Sundance Film Festival, it has become a word of mouth sensation. But my feelings on Memento do not parallel those of nearly everyone else. It has been two days since rented the DVD of the film and all I can think of is how frustrating it was.


Memento is told backwards, or at least most of it is. The film opens with a Polaroid picture going from developed to undeveloped, the photo returning into the camera, and a flash going off capturing the image of a dead body on the floor. Protagonist Guy Pearce stands, his gun flies into his hand, and a bullet flies back into it from the head of the dead man. From there the film plays in backwards sections, but not exactly in reverse.

Pearce is Leonard, a former insurance investigator who, after the brutal murder of his wife and the trauma that occurred to him during her death, has a no short-term memory (like Dana Carvey in Clean Slate, but with shorter terms and in a better film). He talks fast because, if he's not careful, he'll forget how the conversation even started and whom he's talking to. For this reason, he takes Polaroid pictures of people and things and writes notes about them (he even has a few notes written on his skin in the form of tattoos). There's a photo of his car, his motel room, and the woman that'll help him. She is Natalie (Moss), and her involvement in his life has made some interesting run-ins with characters like the mysterious Dodd (Rennie).

However, the real roaming mystery man in Leonard's life is Teddy (Pantoliano; always a terrific presence). Our first image of him is when the bullet flies out of his head and it takes the duration of the film to really understand why. We know that Leonard's quest is to avenge the murder of his wife and catch the man with the initials J.G., but how does that come back to Teddy
? Ubiquitous, yes -- threatening, no.

There is a secondary plot that plays forward in between the backwards sections. These are there for Leonard to tell a man on the telephone about Sammy Jankis (Tobolowsky), a former insurance claim that also had short-term memory loss. Jankis' story is meant to give some sort of knowledge for Leonard to work off of -- where he failed to understand Sammy then, he can now play off it to help people understand his peril. There is an aside late in the film that attempts to put the Jankis story into a different perspective


Nevertheless, the real problem for me is in the reasoning that comes up in the final moments. It's like being cheated out of something spectacular. For a film to remain so enthralling for so long, it's hard to believe that it takes such a dramatic misstep. And, even more infuriating, it does not even really make sense. It puts a spin on things that really does not work. Nolan has successfully worked the film for nearly 100 minutes and then throws all inventiveness to the wind.

Memento only falters then - every other facet of the film is top-notch. The film noir feel of the motion picture (Ralph Meeker or Humphrey Bogart could have easily played Leonard back in the 1940's) and seedy settings make for one impressive creation. From the outset, Nolan makes sure that the audience realizes that he knows what he's doing, and attempts (usually creatively) to burn the filmmaking textbook.

Experimenting with cinema is, of course, nothing new. I'm slightly reminded of Run Lola Run and Pulp Fiction as I write this, and have some memories of The Sixth Sense (though, that film was an opposite of Memento -- it had a great ending to makeup for an otherwise bad film). However, I feel that Memento is easily one of the most auspicious experimental works in some time. Nolan's directorial style and Dody Dorn's editing are like nearly nothing seen before and the sat
isfaction at seeing something new on celluloid is refreshing (some extra credit should also be given to Nolan's brother Jonathan, who wrote the short story the film is based on).

But I still cannot get out of my mind the distress that comes from the poor finale. I'm not someone that only likes happy-go-lucky films but I don't like to feel cheated by a film.

Such a shame - it could ahve ben so special!

Summary: