*MEMENTO* is a fever dream

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Original Movie: Memento

[@baron7755]

14:05 "Im chasing this guy....nope he's chasing me" one of my favorite lines

[@chrisschuenke8316]

"I don't feeeel drunk..." one of my all time favorite line deliveries.

[@Tan3l6]

"Who did this to you?" ...

[@randywhite3947]

14:07

[@ShoreFell]

This is probably one of my favorite movies of all time just because of how crazy the story is and how all the puzzle pieces fit together at the end when nothing makes sense when it starts.

[@zmarko]

100% agree. Plus, for me, it's how tragic Leonard is throughout the whole movie, until the very end when he essentially becomes the "bad guy". Such an epic movie.

[@axr7149]

TENET fits that description too IMO. Everything clicks beautifully together there, with audio and visuals complementing each other and not relying on exposition so much. Easily one of the most underrated films to ever release in in recent years. Nolan's best film IMO.

[@AchtonsVideos]

The way the B/W scenes are shown chronological, and those in color are in reverse and they alternate is so intriguing... And then you realise that they converge towards the climax scene at the end of the film, which changes to color halfway through... **Chef's kiss** My favourite Nolan movie by far.

[@hombredetacos]

A temporal pincer

[@ScienceWinsEveryTime]

It reminds me of the structure of All Along the Watchtower. The lyrics of that song begin in the middle of a story, progress to the end, and then go back to the beginning. If you read the lyrics starting with the line, 'All Along the Watchtower', and ending with 'The Hour is Getting Late', you get the real progression and it makes more sense.

[@davidw.2791]

@@hombredetacosAlso employed in Oppenheimer in a rougher way.

[@Malysari]

Right, the movie starts at the end and goes backwards with the black and white scenes starting at the beginning and moving forward and they meet in the middle where the movie ends. It’s amazing!

[@coltonpiper6156]

@@hombredetacosa nice temporal pincer attack straight out of Tenet.

[@nicholascaccese4126]

The twist for Memento does not get enough recognition for how good it is and ultimately how tragic it is. I screened this for a class once and every student's jaw was on the floor at the reveal.

[@valeria262]

By what measure does it not get recognition? People that haven't even seen it know about it and it's been memed positively to hell and back

[@annaclarafenyo8185]

What "twist" are you referring to? There's a good one and a bad one.

[@valeria262]

@annaclarafenyo8185 I assume it the, "he's manipulating himself" one or at least that's the one most people know about

[@nicholascaccese4126]

@@annaclarafenyo8185 I almost figured it to be just part of the same twist, that Sammy didn't have a wife and Leonard created that fake story to cope with the truth and that he and Teddy just keep repeating the cycle since he can't remember getting his revenge. But very curious what you think is the good vs. bad one?

[@nicholascaccese4126]

@@valeria262 Just whenever you see lists or hear people talk about best twists. I have NEVER seen a meme of it but find it pretty funny that people are making them for this.

[@cskidmore6]

The Prestige (another Nolan film) might give you a unique combination of emotional characters with a "heady"/"twist and turn" story line.

[@jerodast]

I loooove that movie but I do think for a lot of the emotions are pretty bottled up and both characters are obsessive, extreme people, so she might have the same issue of it feeling more intellectual and less relatable.

[@patrickgass787]

I would second this, if she hasn't seen The Prestige she absolutely needs to

[@Lucifronz]

I actually think Teddy was telling the truth at the end (well... beginning). That he helped him get revenge and kill the guy who fucked up his memory and assaulted his wife. I don't know how *much* is the truth, whether his wife was really still alive and just left him or whatever, but I think Teddy actually did try to help and when the memory didn't stick, he eventually started to use him more and more for his own benefit. Partially at first to give him a "purpose" and also because, well... he was really good at it.

[@Scary__fun]

Teddy told him his wife had diabetes, and with the flash of Lenny's face over the insurance claim guy who killed his own wife by shooting her up with insulin due to his memory problems... to me, that's clear that Lenny was the one who killed his own wife. That's why Teddy felt so sorry for him that he helped him kill the guy who attacked his wife and caused his memory problems. This reactor didn't quite get the tragedy of that... his wife is dead and even though he learns he has already killed the guy who attacked her and caused his memory problems, he chooses to ignore it and that just heaps more tragedy on him because he's continually suffering trying to find the killer and being used by Terry. BUT, he also ends up getting revenge on Teddy who gets his just desserts. That final conversation brings up revelations AND makes you rethink the very beginning of the movie and everything that has happened.

[@raiden_187]

I literally just finished the movie and that's what I'm confused about, teddy tells Lenny that his wife has diabetes meaning he is basically Sammy. I assume due to conditioning he convinced himself that's there's a killer who took his wife. My confusion is which story is true did he hit his head or it was an accident, or are both stories true at the same time, but only in parts. What I came to is that teddy is a corrupt cop who knew of Lennys condition (sammy), and started using him to kill people. You know "you're not a killer....... Thats what makes you so good at it" Afterall I'm still kinda confused. What a movie man

[@TheDancerMacabre]

Pretty much. If you look closely, Lenny has the "I did it" tattoo on his chest with his wife in bed. So Teddy was helping him find the John G hoping that it would "stick" and help him find some closure. But it didn't. Then he gave his wife too much insulin and was put in an institution which is why we see that frame of him as Sammy Jenkins Teddy feels guilty, "bails" Lenny our (having protective custody of some sort) and helps construct the case with him so Lenny can have some sense of purpose.

[@Wruce_Bayne]

It's a shame Guy Pearce never got wider recognition, he's a great actor

[@Knightowl1980]

He kinda fell off a bit but he has such a good resume. LA confidential is just an incredible film

[@daddynitro199]

Guy Pearce is solid in the semiobscure dark comedy horror “Ravenous” with Robert Carlyle

[@Scaring-Crows]

He's phenomenal in LA Confidential too

[@snowdenwyatt6276]

He's stayed busy, just doing a rather eclectic mix of Indie films, Aussie stuff (the Jack Irish series of films & TV seasons are top notch), and when he does participate in higher profile stuff it's often a bit part (like Prometheus). Even though he's in plenty of stuff that's not for me, I tend to give it a try because of his presence.

[@DavidGowers]

Funny story about Guy, I read somewhere that he said in an interview that when he first branched out from Neighbours he'd always get asked "Hey, didn't you used to be Mike Young?" and that eventually became "Didn't you used to be Guy Pearce?"

[@randerson4124]

fun fact, there is a way to go into the DVD menu and access a feature that lets you watch the movie in chronological order instead of the original time skip

[@CgGoil]

That is awesome!! I would love to see that.

[@PhoenixMF1986]

Dude! This is been one of my favs forever and I may or may not have it on dvd. lol time is a cruel mistress. But I’m gonna hit the dvd shelf tomorrow and see.

[@davidle4936]

A little guide to the narrative for you: the color sequences are reverse chronological order, while the black and white sequences are in chronological order. The end with two sequences merged is when two supposedly separate stories collide. I recommend you to watch this movie multiple times for a better understanding of what happened in the movie.

[@xbeaker]

Yeah, surprised she missed that the color/BW was to help you keep track when in the chronology you are.

[@jerodast]

@@xbeaker surprised that you guys both missed that she understood the chronology, but was pointing out there's no real meaning to the B&W *other* than as an aid to the audience, which is a little clunky/artificial :P

[@joeblow9659]

​@@jerodastsurprised you think she did when she clearly didn't, but simps gotta simp amirite? 🤭

[@Knightowl1980]

One of the films that just shows you what’s possible with film and being able to play with the audience

[@frfras7]

This is Nolan’s best movie

[@gavinderulo12]

Imo its interstellar, then prestige then memento

[@fryke]

Definitely his best. He never got to that perfection again. I guess throwing more money at his projects didn't really help him. The newer movies are more polished, of course, but just couldn't reach this level.

[@StreetHierarchy]

There should be an asterisk, as it was based on a short story by his(slightly more American😈) brother Jonathan.

[@frfras7]

@@StreetHierarchy his brother made Westworld which was peak for 2 seasons and almost made a comeback in the 4th so there's that

[@frfras7]

@@fryke interstellar is pretty close as it's emotionally in another league

[@alterangel]

The black-and-white shots tell the story from the start and move forward in time with each scene: the shots in color tell the story from the ending and move backward in time with each scene. Then, at the end of the movie, the scene starts in black and white and transitions to color as the two timelines meet in the middle.

[@pallenda]

Memento is one of the very few movies that blew my mind AND made me speechless for several minutes.

[@AaronReese]

Before the movie came out, when I read about the concept, I couldn’t imagine how a character without short term memory could be relatable. I didn’t believe the audience could build a relationship with someone like that. Guy Pearce was so likable so fast. He gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.

[@StreetHierarchy]

People who came of age or were in high school at the turn of the century had the immense privilege of experiencing one of the greatest periods in cinema history.

[@garethbattersby]

We were as Kings... and we didn't even know it. Looking back even the "bad" movies of the late 90s and early 2000s were good. Especially by modern standards

[@TraynArt]

The ending didn’t hit me emotionally the first time because I was still trying to wrap my head around all the info we just learned. It wasn’t until subsequent viewings that the tragedy of the story really hits home.

[@woeshaling6421]

Since its release I have always held this concept close to heart. There are tons of themes, but the main one for me is that we lie to ourselves all the time. So much that we believe them in our hearts

[@maximillianosaben]

It's so cool to see Christopher Nolan's style so evident here and still carry on through to his latest film.

[@tehjhu]

I was in highschool when this movie came out and I remember it as the first "smart" movie we were aware of and like, discussed at lunch and gym class

[@Native_Creation]

This, Fight Club, and The Matrix (especially with the casting)

[@kristovx7]

@@Native_Creation holy fuck, are you me?

[@Trepanation21]

@@kristovx7 holy fuck, are you ?

[@fullmetalandtheflame438]

Since you’ve watched so many Christopher Nolan movies, I highly recommend what I consider to be his true masterpiece: The Prestige. One of my all time favourite movies. Both emotional and intellectual, and of course, a great twist at the end. Truly a phenomenal movie.

[@artofsam]

It physically hurts me how much The Prestige is not given enough praise I think it’s a masterpiece and yes would absolutely recommend to Natalie but then again there isn’t really a Nolan movie that I wouldn’t recommend, even his weaker movies are miles ahead of everything else the guy is a god damn genius.

[@fullmetalandtheflame438]

@@artofsam 100% agree with everything you said

[@daniellanctot6548]

*_People keep chiming about The Dark Knight, Oppenheimer and whatnot. But to me, Nolan still has not managed to surpass the masterpiece that is Memento: Still the best Nolan film ever; and surprisingly overlooked by both Nolan fans and regular movie goers._*

[@axr7149]

MEMENTO still remains one of his Top 3 best works IMO, but I think his best work is TENET. This is not only because the filmmaking (especially action sequences) is significantly matured, but the audio and visual storytelling combine together rather beautifully in that film in a way none of the others have quite managed to accomplish. I saw it first 3 years ago, and rewatched it on an IMAX re-release of it recently, and it significantly improved for me over time.

[@Frantzypantz]

I'm still shocked she said Inception wasn't an emotional film... Uh, were we watching the same pic?

[@jonathanj2666]

Recency bias. It's not hard to understand why.

[@HQofrandom]

The Prestige is my favourite, but this is a close second

[@j.r5124]

@@axr7149where was it released, would love to see it

[@YouTubeHandleEtc.]

What I love most about this movie is it was one of the first movies I ever saw that made me actually feel what the character was feeling. The reverse structure at the start of every scene makes you feel disoriented, as a viewer you have to try to get your bearings, while struggling to keep track of what just happened and how it fits in to what you're currently experiencing. Which is exactly what Leonard is feeling everytime his memory wipes.

[@kevinking3798]

Yes - there's a big divide over how much of what Teddy says to believe. But there are also clues that dirty cops were involved in the original crime, with drugs planted in the car to make it look like a drug-related crime. So I figure Teddy was a dirty cop who had been using his drug dealer contacts for his own profit, and was probably involved in the original crime even if he wasn't the killer. He was definitely using Lenny. So when Lenny sets himself up to 'frame' Teddy, it still feels like justice to me. Teddy put himself in that situation. I usually hate movies with ambiguous stories, but this one is amazing. One of my favorites.

[@theobserver2267]

A few years ago I saw a news report of a woman who had fallen and since whenever she sleeps her memory reverts to the day of the accident. She wakes each morning to discover her 5 year old son is now a teen and every morning her husband has to explain what has happened. Every morning she breaks down in tears as does the husband and son. It was one of the most heartbreaking stories I've ever seen and she comes to mind whenever I see this film. My heart goes out to anyone suffering dementia or any memory problems like this and those who care for them.

[@SoloJona]

I love that this movie is ALL script and editing. It's an excellent showcase of what a good filmmaker and storyteller can acomplish with a minimal budget, and barely any effects

[@maggierappa417]

I watched this movie for the first time over zoom, with my friend for our high school film class during senior year. And I have always loved watching movies, but watching this movie and then dissecting it and seeing all the little details in it is what made me really interested in film. The way it’s cut together in past and future, colorless and with color, and then the timelines come together just as the color returns is maybe the best thing I’ve ever seen while watching a movie ever

[@jaalsburg]

One of my favorite movies. So clever and unique.

[@Jordashian93]

I absolutely love this movie. The way it is told is very interesting, in that you know how the movie ends, and little by little you learn what came before, and what happened before that. It's a very interesting way to tell the story and it fits extremely well with the main character, who has a type of amnesia where he can't create any new memories, so he forgets things soon after they happen.

[@Lucifronz]

It constantly keeps the audience in the same position as the protagonist, never knowing what happened before, but still letting them in on where everything was going by playing each scene in reverse order. You can't make the audience forget the beginning of the movie, so you simply don't show it to them until the end.

[@kevinburton3948]

In the theatrical version- all the black and white scenes are played forward chronologically, all the colour scenes are played in reverse order. The SE dvd has a hidden feature that allows you to watch the entire movie in chronological order. So with this feature you watch all the black and white scenes first, then the colour scenes ending with Teddy's execution. The final shot of Leonard tossing the gun and taking the instant picture is played forward including the picture developing.

[@JacobNeff77]

One of my top all-time favorites. Regarding the black and white question, the black and white scenes move forward chronologically while the color scenes move backward until both meet at the crisis point of the story.

[@nathanlindahl8336]

“That’s what I do at Hollywood parties” Ok Natalie 😂😂

[@lancourt]

My favorite movie! It's so tragic and captivating and the soundtrack does some heavy work.

[@TheDarkknightrules92]

One of my favorite movies! Nolan's Masterpiece along with The Dark Knight. So complex and beautiful!! Loved that your branching out like this Natalie!. 😁

[@ariadnepyanfar1048]

The emotions in Memento hit me harder on rewatches, when I wasn’t so busy working out reality. Once they did, this is SO dark, and SO sad. This remains one of my favourite movies, and one of my favourite Nolan movies.

[@17thknight]

There's so many details on re-watches that make a lot more sense, but more than anyone I think Natalie is the most unfairly maligned on a first watch. From the moment she first meets Leonard she knows for a fact that he killed her boyfriend. She understands his condition she believes it exists but she can't get over the fact that he killed Jimmy. She's filled with anger that she doesn't know what to do with because she can't do anything to Teddy who she doesn't know and Leonard who she does know she knows for a fact was manipulated by Teddy. So she's in this position of being filled with anger towards someone who doesn't deserve it and who wouldn't even remember if she accused him of the murder. When you view events chronologically and you see her true arc, you realize that after the incident with Dodd she begins to feel an enormous amount of guilt for what she did to Leonard and she goes out of her way to be very kind to him from that point on.

[@V0ltron]

I saw this movie back in early 2002 or 2003, I was stationed at Shaw A.F.B. and a brother showed this to me... great movie... also great reaction. It was GOLD!

[@cabwab]

I love the secret code on the DVD to play it all in sequence. Such a great film, remember reading the review in empire magazine when it came out, it was so short, but screamed you need to see this movie!

[@MM-vs2et]

Love that this movie's antagonist is the protagonist. His past self is a self-destructive domino that topples the next one until he kills an innocent person. Then he starts at the smallest domino again.

[@avtr_isaac]

Natalie I want to thank you for the videos you make, it helps me so much in difficult times in my life, every time I'm down I see one of your videos and every time you put a smile on my face, so thank you very much for your effort

[@thrk6952]

14:57 is one of the funniest scenes in cinema😂 the best thing about this film is everytime we wake up with him we have absolutely no context or idea about the situation he’s in the same as the character so we get the feeling of what he’s going through

[@aiden12139]

the ending of memento remind me of inception's ending they are both open to interpretation: we know that Teddy is a corrupt cop using Leonard to kill criminals by leading him to believe they are his wife's killer so when Teddy tell him that he killed the guy who killed his wife, was he telling the truth ? or maybe the guy was just a random criminal like Jimmy? did Leonard get rid of the pages or did Teddy do it ? how did Teddy know that Sammy didn't have a wife? so in the end of the movie we can take Teddy at his word and assume what he's saying is the definitive truth simply because we want an easy answer but Did it even happen that way? so if Leonard's wife didn't die in an attack, but in an accident brought on by Leonard , maybe also his wife wasn't really attacked by two guys , maybe she was attacked by one person like the police report suggest but he created the other guy to blame for his wife death to create a reason for himself to live(revenge) and Teddy used this opportunity to make Leonard do his dirty business. or maybe...

[@adamcox13579]

This is exactly the sort of film you should watch for the first time and then for a second time immediately after. First time around you, it doesn't all fit together until near the end but on re-watching, you pick up all the subtleties and can really enjoy the film for what it is.

[@josiahfadder]

The black and white are like the polaroids as it finally comes into colour focus by the end of the movie which is technically the start of the story. When his motivation fully comes into focus

[@KilopsFR]

I remember having the deluxe DVD set including a 2nd DVD with an edit of the movie in chronological order. That 2nd DVD was a nice watch after you watched the regular movie 3 or 4 times :)

[@martinholt8168]

20:15 The commercial in the background is for a car dealer named Cal Worthington, a rather colorful character in California. One of his commercials involved him riding two orcas in a pool.

[@stewartdeforde]

The movie What we do in the Shadows is a must watch 🖤

[@LukeWarm05]

Another great movie that tells its story in reverse is the French film Irreversible. It does have one INCREDIBLY (purposefully) uncomfortable scene, but it's also the scene that drives the entire plot.

[@ferbies]

i love memento! one of my favorite movies. i dont know if you take requests from youtube but i think you would love amcs interview with a vampire. such a wonderful show & season two ends next week

[@zenithquasar9623]

This is one of my favourite films ever. As a film making perspective, especially.

[@FHB71]

The DVD like I have it has a special where the scenes are cut together in the correct sequence, which still makes it a good movie.

[@AnaFox]

I love this movie. I’m so happy you reacted to it!

[@rory_pond1701]

Memento is based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan (Christopher's brother). He co-created Westworld and served as exec producer (and directed the first three episodes) of Fallout.

[@subhashismandal9871]

The sheer geniuses of Chris Nolan and Jonathan Nolan.

[@sandwiched]

If you like movies like this where you have to figure out what's actually going on, I can highly recommend Identity (2003), Basic (2003), and The Prestige (2006).

[@ItDoesntMatterReally]

I feel like the black and white scenes are stylized that way because everything about those phone call moments is a mystery. We don't initially know when they fall in the timeline, who he's talking to, or why. Those phone call moments could almost exist outside of the film in a weird narrator cutaways because they seem so detached from the already shattered timeline...until the end. I also think they're like that as a send-up to old noir films, which this is a neo-noir. Film noir rarely has happy endings, especially for our flawed protagonists.

[@plectrumura]

We had to watch this for a course called images of the body in modern fiction when I was at university. Completely fascinating and instantly became one of my favorite films ever.

[@thepineappleguy9027]

I think one thing you missed about the ending was that he didn't just write "don't believe his lies" for the sake of continuing to live in confusion, he also did it to start a chain reaction that would eventually result in him killing teddy (as seen at the beginning) which is almost his form of revenge, by making the decision that Teddy would be his final John G, this for me was the emotional climax of the movie, making the ending more than just an explenation.

[@tonytorrez1256]

I didn’t see this in the comments so I’ll say it here. One detail that breaks my heart too was the picture Teddy took of Leonard pointing to the blank spot on his chest/heart to say “he did it”, and in the concluding monologue, you see him with his wife on his chest and caressing the same spot with the confirming tattoo… the reality he will never know, remember, or experience. Also I know this channel is reserved for first time views of movies, but I would actually look forward to seeing your rewatch of this film to see if you like it better the second time around, and if the emotional beats would resonate stronger with you. Because of the manic state of the first time viewing, I could imagine if this were like watching a comic book movie and trying to find all the Easter Eggs more than enjoying the movie itself. I think now that you know what the movie was, you could now watch it again and it’ll be a completely different movie experience as you can now pick up on the nuances.

[@myurgil]

I got a concussion many years ago with associated anterograde amnesia, which is what Leonard has in this movie (and fortunately did not persist in my case). I was only ever able to recall bits and pieces of that evening. I was very confused, and had the constant feeling of having just woken up. The way this movie is presented in reverse is not only brilliant for the twist at the end (beginning?) but is very effective in capturing the experience of anterograde amnesia. In fact, I was under the impression that I had spent the evening of the incident drifting in and out of consciousness until I learned about anterograde amnesia years later in a psychology class in which we watched a video about Clive Wearing (who expressed feelings similar to my own). I asked my mom about it that evening, and learned that I had, in fact, been conscious the entire evening of the incident.

[@TheDaringPastry1313]

Talking about 50 First Dates and Memento, there is a guy in the UK (Clive Wearing) that contracted herpes encephalitis, a viral infection that damaged the hippocampus, a part of the brain that's responsible for transferring short-term memories to long-term memory. So he now "lives" his life forgetting all new memories within 7-30 seconds. He was 47 when it happened and he's 86 now. The documentary on him is fascinating, but really sad.

[@kk_33]

The first watch of this movie can be very jarring and confusing, and i can definitely understand your response to the ending. But it is the kind of movie that gets better every time you watch it. I think the story is actually quite brilliant and it does personally resonate emotionally for me, but to each their own. Great reaction still!

[@cheebagardens1759]

His first film (Following) is also pretty solid.

[@chrish5136]

You have to watch The Prestige!

[@Native_Creation]

Jonathan Nolan's work (Christopher's brother) also plays a lot with this divergence of time, it's most prominent in Westworld, and a lesser extent in editing, in Fallout.

[@joshschwarzbauer8155]

One of my favorite films from this time period!!! Lets go, cant wait!

[@steliosfindrilakis105]

Definitely one of my favorites movies...Grate reaction!

[@Ruthvik_Vishnu_D]

I wouldn’t say my favourite film, but this is is a crazy film that I watched or ever watched I love this film for the uniqueness brought and how Christopher Nolan handle it at a young age was just impressive to watch, and this is the only film that I watched the first time and again I rewatched it again immediately, if anyone asked me for a crazy film, I would definitely recommend this film to them.

[@zmarko]

One of my favorite movies. The score in this is top notch. It creates an amazing atmosphere. My favorite line from this movie is "how can I heal...if I can't feel time?" And Natalie talks over the 2nd half of the line, right on cue. 😂😅 🤣 🤣

[@philipangel8298]

This is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time.

[@1nAtEdAgR8]

I took a film class in high school and this was the movie that stuck with me the most. One of my favorites of all time

[@jasonmarbach]

A top 5 favorite movie all time for me. What an incredible film. Thanks Nat!

[@ogrejehosephatt37]

The black and white was used to note the scenes that were progressing in forward order between the scenes that were ordered backwards. At the end of the movie, the scene turns from black and white to color when the two progressions finally met.

[@JesterRed]

This is also one of my favorite movies. I had no idea what it was about when I watched it the first time and the first thing I did when it ended was go back and watch it again to see it all with new eyes knowing what was really going on. I have heard there is a cut of this movie where everything is put in chronological order as a Special Feature on the DVD.

[@brianwashines2645]

I love how this movie turned the film noir archetype of professional hitman around by asking, What if the contract killer didn't know he was one? Every shady deal becomes personal for him because he's like a ghost reliving his own tragedy without any resolution. His wife's killer is always going to be out there and he's always going to seek him out. There's always people in that seedy underground who are going to use him for their own ends.

[@rhuwyn]

When this movie came out Nolan was no where near as well known as he is today. I saw this movie during a limited theater release in an independent theater. Completely blew me away in my late teens..

[@raiden_187]

I literally just finished this movie like rn. It was absolutely phenomenal, probably my favorite nolan film

[@jasonondik6003]

The line where Lenny is sitting at the fire burning the last of his wife's things (his momentos) and says "Can't remember to forget you." is a gut punch. This movie gave me all the feels the first time through the 200th time. I emphasize with him for his loss because he feels it every day for the first time. Also, Lenny being Sammy is VERY much up for debate. I lean toward they are not the same person. Lenny has near perfect memory of everything before the attack. He fully remembers in detail the story of Sammy. He wouldn't be able to tell himself a lie and remember it, unless he tattooed the entire story on his body. There are paople who say he is and even point to the similarity in their name as a clue both heve 5 letters, both have a the 3rd and 4th letter repeat, both end in "y", bothe are Consonant, Vowel, Double Consonant, Vowel. It is a very debateable topic.

[@Knox-kb5kg]

I would suggest "The Prestige" for emotion and "Insomnia" for the reasons you gave for this one. Solid film making all around!

[@droidx1191]

Nolan uses structure to cause the audience to FEEL what the characters feel. In this case, we needed to feel disoriented, wondering "did I see that? do I remember that?"

[@mistersuspiciousshow]

This is one of my favorite movies - I’m super glad you’re reviewing it!

[@MrGpschmidt]

Nolan's masterpiece. Neo-noir with a twist. Pearce in his signature role is perfect. The foot chase scene (...So what am I doing? I'm chasing this guy....no; he's chasing me...) is iconic. IMO the b&w suggests the shades of grey in Leonard's memory overall and in color makes you feeling things as real as it is happening (so pretty black and white if you ask me).

[@seanjones1810]

I agree with your statement about Nolan movies, and movies in general, working better when you have strong emotional hooks that you can connect to. Though, you can swap two on your lists there IMO. Inception had a heavy emotional arc that was personal for the character. He was trying to work through what happened with his wife while also trying to pull off the heist so he could get back to his kids. I found it fairly moving at times. Tenet and Dunkirk didn't have specific character connections they really went through. Oppenheimer for as interesting as it was also never led us down an emotional journey with him. Dunkirk was this pulled-back look at the war and Tenent was very sterile. I would agree Memento does rely more on its puzzle and style than any emotional beat for the characters. I'm right there with you on that one.

[@Evil_Peter]

This is still my favorite movie from Nolan. Such an interesting and engaging puzzle of a story. As for not being very emotional, I think that goes for pretty much all of Nolan's movies. I generally don't feel very emotionally affected by his movies, he's mainly an intellectually interesting director. The one exception is Interstellar, where the emotional parts really landed with me.

[@krisreilly8856]

I won't say I "forgot" how good this movie is. But I appreciate the reminder.

[@SplitSniper7]

Memento is one of my all time favorites and after hearing your recap on the story it reminds me a lot of Shutter Island

[@PLAjcmdaddy]

It’s funny you mention emotional for his movies. I really like Tenet and it’s definitely a more sci-fi concept that’s filmed well, but the ending of that movie is surprisingly emotional, to me at least.

[@SmokeDog1871]

Saw this movie once like 20 years go and its still stayed with me to this day, such a great twist

[@pigskinpoetry]

You should watch The Prestige. That's one of Nolan's best films.

[@richiecabral3602]

Just so you know if you're interested, there was a French film that also did the whole telling the story in reverse thing, called "Irreversible". Which I actually had thought was prior to this. At least I'd seen it first back in the day, but looking it up now, it does seem that "Memento" was first by a couple of years. I remember reading about the director, Gaspar Noe, at the time, and I don't remember anything too specific, but just that he was kind of an out there, wacky kind of guy, kind of controversial, which I interpreted as kind of funny. Not sure what became of his career, but "Irreversible" is a very powerful flick, and worth checking out for, at least at the time seemed like, a very original movie, and is worth the experience to at least say that you've seen it, but with that, I have to worn you without spoilers that there is some very graphic and disturbing stuff in it that is not easy to watch, and that does not necessarily happen quickly and then it's over. One scene is intentionally drawn out way longer than any other movie would, apparently for the sake of the graphic disturbing reality of it! It stars Vincent Cassell and Monica Bellucci, who you may know and have seen in other things you've reacted to here, who were actually married at the time.

[@davidd.3555]

The scene where he talks to Natalie about the license plate & he’s like “yea, the license plate” even though he had no idea what she meant bc he obviously couldn’t remember was directly linked to the previous Sammy scene where he thought he caught a glimpse of recognition. “Sammy” didn’t recognize him but he pretended like Lenny did with Natalie.

[@csalazar1230]

Loved this movie when it first came out. Now I only think of Pimento's Memento from Brooklyn 99 now.

[@thontor]

I love this movie. When I was in college i had a digital copy of it and I managed to use some video editor to re-arrange all the scenes to be in chronological order. It was a fun project. It made for interesting viewing but it wasn't as good of a movie watching it that way.

[@schnubbel76]

I strongly suggest to watch the documentation "The man with the 7 second memory" about Mr. Clive Wearing. He has this kind of condition but he lost almost all memories from the past, so for him it is like waking up every few seconds. He somehow memorized that he has this condition, he is writing things down and he also kind of remembers remembers his wife, he "feels" who she is but states that he never saw her before at the same time. He is aware in a way that he describes it as being dead, having no past, having no future, no moment to capture. Just being without really being. Kind of unconcious the whole time while being awake. It is so very fascinating, but also heartbreaking. Worth a watch.

[@MacMov]

I believe the choice of black and white for pretty much half of the movie is to show the difference in the timelines. B/W runs forward, Color is in reverse order, and not just any order or in flashbacks how you could intuitively assume, each color scene starts how the "next" one ends. I mean that's probably very obvious to most of the audience at some point. It took me about 30 min to figure it out in the theatre (and be sure of it). This is what the movie is telling you the whole time: remember! Remember how the previous (color) scene started (while not getting confused by the next intertwining B/W forward scene), because that's how the next one is going to end (explaining how we actually got into the previous situation)! But it's funny how easily you miss the moment B/W fades into Color close to the end of the movie, which is about half-time in chronological order. Yeah, I understand why you feel a little detached from the emotional side of the main character. But the way the story is told, puts you right in Leonard's head. He can't make new memories, so neither can you. You're exactly as lost as he is with the beginning of each new situation. That's probably also why the ending does not touch you emotionally as in other (not only Nolan) movies. Leonard's life is futile. He will never have closure, and he doesn't even want to. That for me is the emotional and very sad part of Leonard's story.

[@neilbiggs1353]

Take a timeline. Turn the first half black and white. Fold the timeline back on itself. Cut the scenes and flip the reversed ones so they play forward, and then intersperse them. That is the structure of the film, the B&W shots are there to locate you in the timeline. I actually find this the most emotional of Nolan's films. The structure of the film is there to put you in Leonard's mindset, and has a wonderful line of exposition where they explain how the film worked coming from the hotel clerk "It's backwards, I mean, you know what you're doing, you just don't understand why?". That's the tragedy here - not the murder, but the way the lead character is trapped in his grief, that he "Can't remember to forget" his wife, and he can't heal because he can't feel time. It's a really complex emotional space that would be much harder to grasp if the film wasn't written and shot in the way it was. You're wrong on the production by the way! There were something like 6 different suits for Leonard with different amounts of scuffing which was a tough thing to keep track of when shooting! It's less low budget than you think... This is one of my all time favourite films, and has a weird connection with another one of mine, Awakenings. The inspiration for this story came from the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" by Oliver Sacks, which is a series of case studies about various neurological conditions. The chapter, "The Lost Mariner", details a former sailor with Korsakov's Syndrome(?), and Dr Sacks recounted in that part of the book about how he didn't believe the guy and showed him a mirror, and felt an incredible amount of guilt at the patient's horrified reaction. It's that compassion that elevates what could be a fairly dry series of medical observations, and it's one of the things that Robin Williams captures in his performance as Malcolm Sayer in the film Awakenings, which is based on a book by the same name by Oliver Sacks. It's a beautiful film, and for me has the best Robin Williams performance, maybe the best De Niro performance, and was part of an incredible run of three films directed by Penny Marshall, Big, Awakenings, and A League Of Their Own.

[@SoloStudiosOfficial]

The black-and-white scenes were presented in chronological order, and the full-colour scenes were presented in reverse chronological order. The moment at the end of the film when the black-and-white fades into colour reveals the full continuity of the film's chronology. Everything that happened in black-and-white was leading up to the reveal at the end of the movie, and everything that happened in full-colour followed that reveal.

[@loonz1969]

I still have the old special edition DVD which has a secret Easter egg. The Easter egg allows you to watch the movie edited in the proper "forward" order, instead of reverse.

[@humbertolopez6415]

You don´t really remember if you watched before... That´s brillant!... Pure gold.

[@southmouth7536]

I think you also have to take into consideration the way the ending affects the beginning with Teddy being shot. His confidence and ignorance at using Leonard ending up going disastrously wrong is fascinating to realise at that moment at the end.

[@notmee2388]

I pretty much agree with your take. It is a great movie, but there are many greater. Which got me to thinking: Because you watch recommended films so heavily, you actually have a somewhat higher expectation than those of us that would rent films or go to theaters based off an ad or blurb, which often produces more mixed results.