Memento - review

Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, is unquestionably a film that needs to be seen more than once. Even if you figure out what is going on in good time during the first viewing (and I have to admit that I didn't), it is a film that really does repay careful study.

The idea – based on a short story written by Jonathan Nolan, the director's brother – is fascinating. There are two contrasting sequences – a chronological sequence of events, shown in black and white, and a reverse sequence, showing colour. This effect is confusing and unsettling, but also intriguing.

Guy Pearce plays the part of Leonard, a young insurance investigator, who is determined to avenge the death of his wife, who was raped and murdered by one or more intruders. During the attack, he was hit on the head, and as a result, he loses his short-term memory. To keep his investigation on track, he has vital clues tattooed on his body, takes Polaroid photographs of various people and places, and makes notes on the wall chart that he keeps in his motel room.

Leonard is, to say the least, an unreliable narrator. As a result of his unreliability, it isn't easy to get a handle on exactly what has happened. But it is definitely worth making the effort. This is a very interesting film by one of the most interesting contemporary film directors.

Following

Christopher Nolan is now an acclaimed film director, with massive successes such as Memento and The Prestige under his belt. But he began in 1999 with a low budget black and white movie called Following, which is short, sharp and compelling.

I found the premise fascinating. A young wannabe writer gets into the habit of following strangers just ‘to see where they go’. He isn’t really a stalker, just an eccentric loner, and really quite a decent person in many ways – but very naïve. His innocence proves his undoing.

When he follows a young man of a similar age, he finds that the man realises he is being followed, and challenges him. The man is called Cobb, and it turns out that he has another strange obsession. He likes burgling houses, just for the fun of it. And the foolish follower is persuaded to join in the fun, with ultimately fatal consequences.

This is a clever story, with a non-linear narrative that is not easy at first to figure out, but makes pretty good sense in the end. I found it satisfying, and I enjoyed the performance of Jeremy Theobald as the hapless protagonist. No wonder this creepy and intricate movie launched Nolan into the Premier League of directors of complex suspense movies.