A Memento. Review on Memento Movie

Having missed to watch Memento in theatre, I pursued a DVD quest for more than a year and finally was privileged to watch it a month ago. I came to know about Memento by a lesser grade, mis-tribute, “Ghajini”, a Tamil movie. Honestly, it could not even be called as a mis-tribute; it’s just a directional signboard to Memento. But, I am very much grateful, because it led me to the most intriguing movie I’ve ever seen. By now, I’ve watched Memento more than five times, read its script more than 10 times, but still the addiction to watch/read Memento is overwhelming.

The story is about a guy avenging for the rape and death of his wife. His only problem is that he cannot make new memories. He tries to overcome this drawback by taking photos and scribbling notes as reminders. Stop. If it is too simple as I sound, then it would’ve been an average popcorn movie. But, what makes Memento outstanding is the underlying, psychoanalytical story development.

The screenplay is madly innovative. There is a two way narration, one as color sequences that appear in reverse chronology. The other is black and white sequences which are spilled in between the color sequences to provide background information for lesser intellectuals like me. Both the sequences merge at a point seamlessly which also serves as a delightful display of direction.

There are of course, a lot of movies with innovative screenplay, but they use it as a camouflage to hide an otherwise shaky and vacuous story (like Pulp Fiction). But Memento stands head and shoulders above them in a solid storyline where the screenplay is just one of the supporters

At first viewing, it’s totally confusing to figure out the scene flow. The protagonist wearing the same dress in almost all the (colour) scenes adds more woes to the confusion. But, this doesn’t prevent us from missing an iota of the enjoyment it provides. Having seen the climax at the beginning itself, I misjudged that there would be nothing much left to get amused at the end. But, I was totally wrong. The ending is the most striking and thought provoking showpiece of the whole movie. Again, ending doesn’t hold the entire movie (as in Sixth Sense) but provides additional dimension and complexity to the story.

Guy Pearce as Leonard gives a hearty performance of a guy caught in between his mental condition and manipulations of his acquaintances. We could connect ourselves with him as he struggles to remember facts and fight back the last but tormenting memory: the death of his wife. Joe Pantoliano as Teddy portrays a typical faker, who makes the most of Leonard’s mental condition. His seemingly helpful tendency becomes questionable as scene progresses. Carry Ann Moss as Natalie, indicates what a woman can do when she gains upper hand with the opponent. All her helpfulness towards Leonard has a hidden agenda behind it.

This movie is open ended, which leads us to innumerable questions and theories. The significant one being; “Who tells the truth and who lies?” Every character lies at least once, which makes it impossible to arrive at a singular conclusion.

Dialogues (mostly monologues) are also excellent and bring out the feelings of a guy caught in a time void. “How can I heal when I don’t feel time?” is the most touching monologue. Similarly the one that wraps up the movie is quite moving too, “I have to believe in the world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.” The background score is quite commendable especially at the end.

Psychology always fascinates me and Memento is packed with various psychological concepts like Freudian Projection (The Sammy Jankis Story told by Leonard) and Conditioning (which Leonard applies to manage day to day activities).

Watching Memento is like solving puzzle. Every time I watch it, I get another idea or theory. However, the flipside is that not all information is served in the movie itself. We have to visit the official website ( http://www.otnemem.com) to find out the more background story, which I think, is a cruel injustice to the viewers. But, it’s far better than most of the psycho-thrillers which has a series of incredible incidents only to have an end saying “Everything is just a dream and damn with viewers’ intelligence”. Memento is a memento in my movie collection