10 Great Movies You Didn't Understand The First Time

5. Memento

Memento is actually a remarkably simple story when told linearly. The problem is that by jumbling up the structure of the film to mimic the way Leonard experiences life, it takes a viewer on a wild ride that is hard to piece together the first time out.

This sleeper hit follows Leonard Shelby, a man incapable of forming new memories, as he hunts down his wife's killer. So for a movie that allegedly sees his vengeance completed in the opening scene, it's remarkable how convoluted things would get from there. We see the product of his actions before we see the actions themselves, confusing what ought to be straightforward events.

The film moving in two separate directions makes it hard to track what's really happening. The fractured POV, the stories of himself as Sammy Jenkins, all of it makes the difficult to fully grasp since the viewer is so occupied with the simple scene set up and the way that time is handled.