10 Movies You Need To Watch Twice To Completely Understand

10. Memento

Memento was the world€™s introduction to Christopher Nolan, now a titan of blockbuster cinema. He got off to a great start; one arguable that it remains his finest hour, garnering Oscar nominations for editing and screenplay, those being the film€™s strongest aspects or at least the most interesting. This is a unique film that winds backwards; even its first scene is played in reverse. Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia, the inability to make new memories, on a mission to avenge his wife€™s death. We adopt his fractured perspective of time and how he needs to constantly reset every few hours. It leaves us to sort scenes in our heads, detect the origins and the true nature of the characters around Leonard. Even though it opens at the film€™s chronological end, there is much more that meets the eye, especially as our protagonist may be unreliable unbeknownst to himself. Only on further rewatches can you fully grasp the truth of what€™s going on, each viewing adding an extra layer of what you know against what Leonard knows, considering what€™s truly going on. It€™s a moral drama of justice and perception of reality, but one that delivers mystery and thrills in a human scale that€™s rare in cinema today. Certain editions of the DVD feature a version of the film in chronological order and while it may solve the convoluted nature of the plot, it€™s a much less interesting experience. As this list is one per director for the sake of having more room for other films, Nolan€™s Inception and The Prestige could€™ve easily sat right beside Memento here.