Leonard Shelby is a man who has no short-term memories since an incident and has to leave
himself notes for everything, hence the title, Menento.
Leonard (Guy Pearce, right) has tattoos all over his body telling him his destiny, which you learn early on in
the film as it's the first thing you see, about how his wife has been raped and murdered and they also include a
series of "Facts" about the man - his colour, he's male, his car registration plate and the fact he's a drug
dealer.
He also has Polaroid pictures in the pocket of his smart jacket, one of which shows a woman called Natalie (Carrie-Anne
Moss, below-right), upon which, to remind himself, he's written, "She has also lost someone. She will help you.",
and when we first see her, we see a woman who's clearly been through the wars, courtesy of her violent boyfriend,
Dodd (Callum Keith Rennie). Another has a picture of a man called Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), with the
words underneath, "Don't believe his lies." and he comes across as a rather cocky little man and not one
anyone would particularly want to spend any time with.
But nothing is simple in Memento.
Leonard is suffering from a condition called anterial-grade memory loss, something he recalls when he looks at a
smaller tattoo, on his hand, that simply states "Remember Sammy Jankis". Leonard used to be an investigator for
an insurance company and had to deal with a man of this name, played by the always excellent Stephen Tobolowsky,
who suffered the same condition. It meant that he couldn't remember anything beyond more than a few minutes, so
there'd be no point watching a film, for example, since he wouldn't know how it started. In a bid to try and combat
this, Leonard's mantra is that he'll do things through repetition to learn and teach himself, not by memory but
by instinct, as this relies on a different part of the brain than short-term memory. How well it works remains to
be seen.
Memento is one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen. It's also one of the hardest to review, but
what I do know is that it's an essential film to watch to see a masterclass in complex film-making that demands
your attention. Told in reverse, but mixed in with black-and-white scenes that follow consecutively and also
explains things that we've seen going in reverse. Confused? It's actually more complicated to explain than it
is to watch. Rest assured that Guy Pearce plays the lead perfectly and that everyone else fulfils their supporting
roles more than adequately, especially Joe Pantoliano.
Trivia: Everyone knows Guy Pearce came to the fore after appearing as Mike in Neighbours, but he's
also an accomplished saxophone player, as he did occasionally on the show, and I saw him perform at Foo Foo Lamarr's
club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, back in 1988, followed by a Michael Jackson impersonator and then Foo
Foo himself. Great times :)
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