Memento (2001)Movies

Movies from Film Forum, 04/12/01In select cities, grownups are lining up for Memento, taking on its mind-boggling riddles and nonchronological storytelling. It's something of a cult challenge: Can you solve the mystery? Can you even follow what's going on? The film follows the quest of Leonard, a man who has lost his short-term memory, as he seeks vengeance for the murder of his wife. The scenes in the film run in reverse order so, like Leonard, in each circumstance the audience does not know how he got there or whom he can trust.The U.S. Catholic Conference calls Memento a "remarkable yet flawed psychological puzzle," but cautions that "the unstable lead character's deadly revenge-seeking is disturbing." In my review at Looking Closer, I argue that the film is actually the antithesis of the...