Memento Movie Trailers and Reviews

Memento (2000)

Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior

Director: Christopher Nolan

Release Date: March 16th, 2001
Release Date: 20th October, 2000

Synopsis: Leonard is an insurance investigator whose memory has been damaged following a head injury he sustained after intervening on his wife’s murder. His quality of life has been severely hampered after this event, and he can now only live a comprehendable life by tattooing notes on himself and taking pictures of things with a Polaroid camera. Leonard badly wants revenge for his wife’s murder, but, as numerous characters explain, there may be little point if he won’t remember it in order to provide closure for him. The movie veers between these future occurrences and a telephone conversation Leonard is having in his motel room in which he compares his current state to that of a client whose claim he once dealt with.

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Memento Movie Trailer

About the Movie

Memento is a 2000 psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from his younger brother Jonathan’s short story “Memento Mori”. It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia which renders his brain unable to store new memories. During the opening credits, (which portrays the end of the story) we are shown that Leonard has just killed Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) for the rape and murder of his wife based on information provided by Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).

This film is often used to show the distinction between plot and story. The film’s events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives—one in color, and the other in black and white. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard’s investigation is depicted in color sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each sequence begins, the spectator is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard, thereby giving the viewer a sense of his confusion. By the film’s end when the two narratives converge we understand the investigation and the events that lead up to the death of Teddy.

Memento premiered on September 5, 2000 at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim and received a similar response when it was released in European theaters starting in October 2000. Critics especially praised its unique, nonlinear narrative structure and themes of memory, perception, grief, self-deception, and revenge. The film was successful at the box office and received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay and Editing.