Christopher Nolan Films: Worst To Best

3. Memento (2000)

Memento is an incredibly easy sell of an idea. The narrative device €“ telling the story of an amnesiac through short vignettes shown in reverse order €“ is brilliantly simple to grasp but difficult to fully crack, giving you a view of how Leonard sees the world. Unlike Stan Smith in the pilot of American Dad, you definitely can only get more out of it with repeat viewings. The first time you see it, the film forces you to be confused; there€™s so much manipulation and the film is so open ended that you can€™t quite be certain what you€™ve seen. With each rewatch, the chronological, black and white, scenes that punctuate the reverse order action become increasingly important, telling us more about Leonard€™s mentality, as well as putting increasing weight on Sammy Jankis. Natalie€™s actions, using Leonard to deal with her problems, motivated by his killing of Jimmy, are the big shock of first viewing, but upon rewatching it€™s Teddy who becomes even more mysterious. Even after seeing the film countless times, it's hard to grasp what exactly is motivating Teddy; the ending presents us with a logical explanation, but the fact he has been calling Leonard anonymously plants doubt. Nolan is still reluctant to truly divulge his interpretation of events, making Memento a film that, while it can be cracked, is still a headscratcher. There€™s an optional edit available on certain versions of the DVD that presents the story in chronological order. It initially sounds cool, but is poorly edited and if anything makes events more confusing as it distances you from Leonard after the first, orignally chronological anyway, half. There€™s little that can be gleaned from this that you won€™t get from multiple viewings of the original cut.
Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.