This is an imaginative, intriguing film which follows the events of Leonard's
life as he seeks out the killer who raped and murdered his wife. Told not just
in flash-back, but with time running backwards, brilliantly absorbing the
audience into Leonard's world of unknowing; a world in which Leonard's last
memory is of his wife being killed.Having been injured as he tried to save his wife, Leonard has suffered brain
damage and can no longer retain memories, everything he does is forgotten in
minutes, the only memories he has are those up to 'the incident'.
In order to keep track of what he's doing, Leonard has taken to tatooing notes
on his body, permanent reminders of what he is seeking to do - kill the man
who murdered his wife - and turning his body into a book of evidence to help
him track down his prey.
Armed only with photographs upon which he scrawls names and notes, Leonard uses
these to move one step at a time, onwards to achieveing his goal, with no memory
of the last event.
We know how it ends, so Memento unwinds Leonard's life, letting us see
how he got to where he was, slowly revealing the twists and turns which have
created the path he follows.
It is a revealing insight into this strange illness and a fascinating and
absorbing journey we are taken on, with enough twists to make it hard to
see, in advance, what revelations will be found along the way.
What we see, and take at face value, during each stage of the journey, mirrors
the plight of Leonard himself. As he doesn't know why he's doing something, nor
do we, until we see what happened previously.
An unusual device to use, but one which works exceedingly well. And one which
keeps the audience captivated until the last scene.
