Memento
Movies about mental illness can be pretty tricky to pull off, usually manifesting themselves as dramas where despite the portrayal of said illness, it must be noted that the filmmakers themselves are generally not known sufferers of the featured condition (which means that they wouldnât be able to make and complete the movie if they were) and thus can never be qualified to say that they made a true to life rendering of what itâs like to be afflicted with that illness which the movie is about. But an even ballsier move might be to make a movie detailing the traumatic specifics of a mental disorder that is also a noirish crime thriller, one where the main character is mentally impaired but is also trying to get to the bottom of a complex mystery with his condition being used and exploited by the other characters for their own gain. Thatâs what we got with this 2000 release directed by Christopher Nolan (en route to reinventing the Batman mythos) that not only depicts a character with Anterograde Amnesia, a real life condition that renders its victim completely incapable of having any short term memory whatsoever, but is also notable because Nolan chose to make it in reverse chronological order, beginning the film with the end of the story when the main character commits a brutal execution style murder and then moves backwards through time, all the while knowing that the main character will not remember anything except whatâs happened within the last couple of hours (if heâs lucky because he usually forgets sooner than that) in order to not only depict the severity of his illness, but also to analyze just exactly if the âquestâ that heâs on is a serious, legitimate one or if he is just acting out the symptoms of his illness in public while being almost completely unsupervised while doing so. The movie stars Guy Pierce, a talented, good looking actor whom you wouldnât imagine playing someone with a form of senility, albeit one which he had obtained from a traumatic head injury. Apparently, the blow to the head had come during a home invasion where his wife had been brutally raped and murdered (the last thing he clearly remembers in a linear way) and he wakes up in a dingy hotel room covered with cryptic tattoos (which seem to contain almost random bits of advice for himself to adhere to) and surrounded by photographs of various people, places and things which almost always have his handwriting on them with even more advice as to who to trust and whatnot. His only friend / contact comes in the form of Joe Pantoliano who shows up at the hotel every day to see how he is doing and try to point him in the direction of something, although whether Pantoliano (who seems to know a LOT more than heâs letting on) is leading Pierce on for his own gain and benefit is pretty unclear. He also comes into contact with a skeezy barmaid (Carrie-Anne Moss) who is aware of his condition also and even takes him into her home for a couple of days although Pantoliano (whose connection to her is also unclear) vehemently tries to warn him away from her telling Pierce that she is bad news. Much of the intrigue here comes from the fact that at the beginning of the film / end of the story, Pierce has a virtual treasure trove of photos / clues with his own scribbling on them and as we go backwards through each day of the story, we get to see just how he obtains these photos (he always carries a Poloroid camera) and figure out just what it is he should write on them (and why). It is clear that during the course of his âinvestigationâ that both Moss and Pantoliano are taking advantage of his condition and using him to do bits of their own dirty work (including murder) that have absolutely nothing to do with the murder of his wife because both characters know that come the next day (or the next hour), he wonât remember a thing about it and theyâll be back to square one with him. Pierce does remember about his past life as an insurance claims investigator and even looking into (and turning down the claim of) the case of a man (Stephen Tobolowsky) who suffered from the very same condition as shown through a series of haunting flashbacks making it appear that kharma was indeed in play when Pierce had suffered his injury, but as the film is so disjointed in its narrative structure (the story also shows other Pierce flashbacks that are rapidly moving forward even as the âmainâ story moves backwards), we start to feel disoriented ourselves and with good reason. We start to wonder about Pantolianoâs true role in this since on the surface he appears to be some sort of a âhandlerâ for Pierce as he subtlely nudges him in certain directions (and with some of the things Pantoliano says and the particular ways that he pushes Pierce we almost wonder if this is all the result of some âperfect assassinâ type government experiment) as we also learn that Pierce, if given certain elements of the truth, will choose to block that truth out and even make up his own if it suits his purposes, literally inventing his own form of reality for him to write down and wake up to the next day. Pierce is shown engaging in several long telephone conversations with an unknown character and even amicably accepts the fact that the hotel desk clerk (Mark Boone Junior, an actor who despite his wild look has had a very prolific career despite almost never changing up his appearance) whom upon becoming aware of his condition has actually charged him for a second room as well since he knows that Pierce will just forget all about it anyway. Pierceâs main mental survival technique is to in essence accept the loss of tangible memory and instead become disciplined enough so that heâll become dependent on instinct as a result, seemingly always just knowing what to do when he first wakes up because heâs developed a pattern for doing so that his basic motor skills have now become overly familiar with due to the repetition. The problem with it all is that when we finally make it to the end of the movie, it all comes down to the Pantoliano character (who has already proven himself to be a liar) laying down all the exposition in the absolute thickest way possible, including giving us full disclosure of the major plot twists and unfortunately leaving the viewer wondering if any of it was really indeed true (with Pantoliano being well aware that Pierce will forget all of it shortly) with the argument in favor of that being that Pantoliano had nothing to lose at that point even as he still stupidly plants seeds in Pierceâs psyche (that will be written down by him) that proves that Pierce will never be satisfied especially with the utter lack of positive daily reinforcement that might just steer him towards a different direction in life (one wonders if Pantoliano is deliberately trying to play puppet master with him for no real good reason). At the end of the day, it becomes obvious that Pierce despite his good looks, fancy car and snazzy wardrobe really does belong in a mental health facility since he is just a ticking time bomb set loose in society, but the lack of urgency on the part of someone who knows his condition like Pantoliano to do just that and get him put away (when again the motive for someone like Pantoliano to lead him around by the nose constantly is NEVER explained even while seemingly everything else is) in an institution kills a lot of the credibility of the story itself, as suspenseful and well done as it is with Mossâ character being even worse, brutally badmouthing his dead wife on one day and then looking for sympathy and attention the next. Itâs one thing if the âmysteryâ in the story is legitimate, but itâs another thing if much of what is going on is just a couple of characters jerking around a mentally ill person with very little reason given as to why itâs so damn important for them to be doing so when the poor bastard really just needs a straitjacket and a rubber room so as to not be a danger to either himself or others. The film is moody and well shot and Pierce certainly has presence and is engaging, but the story tangent is so incredibly frustrating that itâs amazing that Chris Nolan wrote his own ticket into Hollywood with this low budget, independent feature film that was hailed by many as being an instant masterpiece, a term that can definitely be applied to its style (the disorienting feeling for both the viewer and the main character is downright palpable) but when all the final twists are applied feels more like a cheat, taking advantage of the viewerâs anticipation much like its lead character is manipulated like a lump of play dohâŚ
7/10