Writer and Director: Christopher Nolan Released by 101 Films / 2000 / Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes
8th November 2023 (Released: 16th October 2023)
Review by Paul Dunne
The Pitch: 101 Films presents Christopher Nolan’s Memento. Released in 2000 after a lengthy quest for distribution, Christopher Nolan's landmark mind-bending thriller was released to universal acclaim receiving multiple Academy Award® nominations, and has since gone on to become a cult classic. Following up his debut effort Following (1998) Nolan once again uses a meticulously crafted structure to place the audience inside the protagonist’s mind. This time, like Leonard we can never truly tell friend from foe, as everyone around him seeks to manipulate his condition to their own ends, while he himself seeks the truth. The brilliance of Memento lies in its ability to show you something new and thrill with each viewing. Leonard (Guy Pearce) suffers from a rare brain disorder - the inability to form any new memories. He can remember in detail everything that happened before his injury, but anyone he has met or anything he has done since that fateful night simply vanishes. Who are his friends? Who are his enemies? What is the truth? In Leonard's world, the answers to these questions shift and change from second to second. And the more he tries to figure out what is true and real, the deeper he sinks into a multi-layered abyss of uncertainty and surprises.
THE FILM: Memento was my first exposure to Christopher Nolan. Back in the early noughties, I was very much interested in the independent film scene. I heard about this film, which had a strange structure, telling its story backward. Of course, I rushed to see it. And I'd never seen anything quite like it before. Leonard Shelby is a fascinating creation and probably Nolan's most morally compromised character not counting Oppenheimer). Only, Leonard has no idea that's the case. For the uninitiated, Leonard has retrograde amnesia, meaning he knows who he is, and knows about his life... but is unable to form new memories past a certain point -the night his wife was killed by 'John G'. Ostensibly, we join Leonard midway through his investigation. But is Leonard more culpable in his wife's death than he claims?
Guy Pearce
Like Following, his first feature which also had a re-issue from 101 Films recently, Memento sets out the stall for Nolan's obsessions early. Although he never made another film with this structure, his interest in time and sculpting within that is clearly on display here. One could look at Tenet as the pinnacle of this interest, this obsession. A movie, finally, about time travel. But that isn't what drives Nolan. He's more fascinated by our relationship with time, our perception of it... Memento is a time-loop movie, one where the fatalistic direction was decided by its protagonist, yet forgotten. Its ending seems accidental, yet pre-determined in the way really good endings should.
Leonard is a beguiling character, with whom post-covid, more of us perhaps share a trait we wouldn't like to admit. My own memory was decimated by six bouts of COVID and the relentless isolation of the pandemic. And then there's the loss itself. His beloved wife is now gone and Leonard is driven by revenge. But how can this be so? Would he remember his desire to kill? His mission of retribution? This is a question that may puzzle you throughout and have you questioning the narrative Leonard sets out for you. After all, the first images we see in the film run backward, both narratively and literally. Could Leonard have things backward? Ultimately, we want to trust even the most untrustworthy of unreliable narrators. To look at it another way, if you're watching a film about criminals, you want them to get away with the crime. Leonard could be a 'bad actor'. Or perhaps a very, very good one. The key is you're never sure. Just like Leonard.
Teddy (Joe Pantolino) pursues Leonard.
Aside from the film's attention-grabbing structure and technically Nolan directs in a matter-of-fact manner, although you can't imagine him applying his instinctive editing process to this the way it may have been applied to later films. There's far too much precision required with the overlapping beginning/endings in the movie. In terms of emotional reach, it's probably his most ambitious work. I've always felt, as I discussed in my review of Following a few weeks back, that Nolan was a fairly cold director but having gone back and rewatched this, I'm reconsidering my position. Guy Pearce proves that he's an actor who should have been a major star but wasn't interested. His performance is nuanced, alive. He isn't playing the part, he's living it. Nolan rounds out the film with an excellent supporting cast, scooping up two players from The Matrix, which shot after but released before Memento due to the film's protracted distribution limbo period. Carrie Ann Moss' wounded, calculating Natalie and Joe Pantoliano's venal, annoying Teddy provide a colourful backbone to the film as they first manipulate and then fall victim to Leonard's unconscious charisma and the opportunities they see arising from his condition.
Leonard’s not too good on the phone.
THE EXTRAS: As with their earlier Nolan release, Following, 101 Films have commissioned an excellent array of new extras and secured the rights to extras that have adorned previous editions. No mean feat, since the film has been reissued more than once in several countries during its brief 23-year life thus far. The film is available in two editions, a Limited Edition and a Standard Edition.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Brand New: SteelBook
Brand New: Rigid box packaging
Brand New: Booklet one - Remembrance of Things Past - Time and Memory in Christopher Nolan’s Memento by James Mottram
Brand New: Booklet two - Jonathan Nolan’s Memento Mori short story
Brand New: Replica Polaroid art cards, printed notes, and Ferdy’s beer mat enclosed in Leonard’s folder
Bonus Second Disc: featuring the chronological edit. Arguably the most interesting feature in this release, this is a re-ordered cut of the film with the black and white sequences at the start and the rest of the film running forward.
BRAND-NEW EXTRAS:
Remember - Actor Carrie-Anne Moss on Memento
Keepsake - Director Christopher Nolan on Memento
Memento Mori - Writer Jonathan Nolan on Memento
Memories - Producer Emma Thomas on Memento
A Leap into the Unknown - Producer Aaron Ryder on Memento
Musical Memories - Composer David Julyan on Memento: These interviews, newly recorded for this release provide a fascinating context for the film and the distribution struggles Nolan and his team went through after the final edit was complete.
Commentary with film critics James Mottram and Sean Hogan: Mottram, as Hogan points out early in the track, Mottram is the man who literally wrote the book on Memento, having crafted Faber & Faber's Making Of Memento book. Their commentary offers up new ways to interpret the picture and they clearly enjoy bouncing off one another. They're knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the film and Nolan's body of work, making this a must-listen.
ARCHIVAL EXTRAS:
Christopher Nolan Project
Remembering Memento
Anatomy of a Scene
IFC Interview with Christopher Nolan
Director’s Commentary: Christopher Nolan's insightful commentary on the film (one of the few he's ever done).
Buy the Limited Edition version of Memento here. Alternatively, you can purchase the Standard Edition version here.
