Memento is all Guy Pearce. Yes, there is a Matrix reunion here with Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss. But Pearce's Leonard Shelby is totally alone. And in the way this movie is filmed, the viewer is seeing everything through a perspective that's unique to Leonard.
Leonard suffers from amnesia. While this may be an overused plot in many stories(such as basic television dramas and RPG's) Memento tells Leonard's plight in a completely unique way. Leonard's form of amnesia is the opposite form that's typically depicted. Instead of having no recollection of events that occurred before he got afflicted with memory loss(such as what his name is and what his family is like), Leonard can't remember things that have happened since.
To me this is a far worse condition. If you can't recall certain memories after having brain damage, you know that you can eventually learn things again. But Lenny(which is what Teddy, played by Pantoliano, calls him) is trapped. He keeps reliving the night that caused his head trauma. The night when his wife was raped and murdered by burglars. And multiple times, every single day, that becomes his most recent memory.
Since Leonard knows nothing beyond that moment, all he can think about is catching the killer. In this way Memento becomes a neo-noir thriller. A private eye story with a radical twist. How do you catch a guy if you can't remember your detective work?
In order to solve this problem, as the movie's title suggests, Leonard keeps mementos. Polaroids, tattoos, and notes scatter his hotel room. Those are the only things that he can trust.
The audience sees everything out of order, just so that we get a small sense of what life is like for Lenny. This isn't like Pulp Fiction out of order. Within a particular setting, time will jump. Leonard will be running and then wonder who he's running away from. Anytime he wakes up in a bed that's not his he has no idea how he got there. Nolan plays with this mechanic so well, and the other characters in Memento play with Lenny. Even an employee of the hotel overcharges him, just because he knows that he can get away with it.
Within this film there is a side story told completely in black & white. Leonard is talking to an unknown person about a man named Sammy Jankis. This story seems completely unrelated to the rest of the film until the end. Or is it the beginning?
It's very difficult to describe what makes Memento so incredible, which is why I've been left to describing the general plot. There is so much that isn't revealed until the end of the movie that its brilliance cannot be discussed without spoilers. This is just one of those movies that must be seen many times to figure it all out.
And yet, no matter how well you analyze the movie, there are still questions that remain unanswered. I will try my best to not mention specific events, but this may contain some spoilers:
-The assumption is that even though it may be out of order, there is a beginning and an end to this story. But the truth is that we don't know how long Leonard has been looking for his "John G" and how much longer after the chronological end of the movie Leonard's story will go on for.
-The connection between Leonard Shelby and Sammy Jankis is debatable. If it is as strong as some may believe, then who was Leonard's actual wife? Was she even really raped and murdered? If she wasn't, then what is Leonard really trying to do with his life?
Just as was the case with Ofelia in my previous post on Pan's Labyrinth, maybe Leonard wants to believe what he believes. Perhaps he purposely leaves clues that are ambiguous just so that it's easier for him to solve his case. If he does catch the killer, how will he remember if he did? If the only thing you could know was vengeance, would you want to convince yourself that you had succeeded, no matter what the cost? And most importantly, if you were going to keep on having that desire forever, and if no one got in the way, would you ever stop? Would you want to?
As a side note, because I had no place in this post to mention this, I'd like to add that this movie has maybe the most incredible DVD box and menu ever.
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