This is not a request, it is an order. This movie is absolutely fantastic and thought provoking.
Now move it!!!
The critics agree!
Bumping a thread to repeat the recommendation. I saw Memento last night, and was almost literally blown out of my shoes.
IT IS, FLAT-OUT, A MUST SEE.
I hope to have a review up on my site (see sig) by tomorrow sometime, but for now, if you haven’t seen it yet,
CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR AND GO.
If I see a better movie in 2001, I will be a very happy filmgoer indeed.
P.S. After we’ve given more people a chance to see it, we should start a “heavy spoilers!” thread to discuss the movie. Man, if you thought the twist at the end of The Usual Suspects was nasty…
What’s it about? And is it a good date movie?
-Neil
Depends on how well you know your date. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first-date movie, but if you’ve been going out with someone for a while, and you share a taste for movies that are slightly out of the mainstream, this could be a great way to (1) check compatibility and (2) have several hours of discussion afterward.
The movie is fairly dark in tone, but it’s occasionally very funny; the adjective I use to describe it is “haunting.” Many viewers have compared it to The Usual Suspects, which I think is fair, but Memento is far more ambitious and is actually about something.
It’s a neo-noir story, about a guy looking for his wife’s murderer. Twist number one: He has neurological damage, and can’t form new memories. (This is a rare but real condition.) He can hold onto a thought for two or three minutes, sometimes longer, but after that it fades completely and he doesn’t remember it at all. In order to cope with this and get through the day, he writes himself lots of notes and takes Polaroids to capture important facts he may need later.
Twist number two (and this is the doozy): The story is told backwards. We begin at the end, and work back in time. This puts us in the main character’s head: He doesn’t remember what happened right before, and because we start each scene cold without the setup, we have as little information as he does. It sounds really confusing, but it works amazingly well when you actually see the movie.
I can’t say anything else without giving away major parts of the movie. All I’ll say is this: This unusual structure works on several levels. It’s more than a gimmick. It’s more than a self-consciously clever device with a knockout twist “ending.” It is a deep, profound movie that will stay in your mind for days afterward.
So, a date movie, I dunno. Depends on the date.
Depends on how well you know your date. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first-date movie, but if you’ve been going out with someone for a while, and you share a taste for movies that are slightly out of the mainstream, this could be a great way to (1) check compatibility and (2) have several hours of discussion afterward.
The movie is fairly dark in tone, but it’s occasionally very funny; the adjective I use to describe it is “haunting.” Many viewers have compared it to The Usual Suspects, which I think is fair, but Memento is far more ambitious and is actually about something.
It’s a neo-noir story, about a guy looking for his wife’s murderer. Twist number one: He has neurological damage, and can’t form new memories. (This is a rare but real condition.) He can hold onto a thought for two or three minutes, sometimes longer, but after that it fades completely and he doesn’t remember it at all. In order to cope with this and get through the day, he writes himself lots of notes and takes Polaroids to capture important facts he may need later.
Twist number two (and this is the doozy): The story is told backwards. We begin at the end, and work back in time. This puts us in the main character’s head: He doesn’t remember what happened right before, and because we start each scene cold without the setup, we have as little information as he does. It sounds really confusing, but it works amazingly well when you actually see the movie.
I can’t say anything else without giving away major parts of the movie. All I’ll say is this: This unusual structure works on several levels. It’s more than a gimmick. It’s more than a self-consciously clever device with a knockout twist “ending.” It is a deep, profound movie that will stay in your mind for days afterward.
So, a date movie, I dunno. Depends on the date.
Depends on how well you know your date. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first-date movie, but if you’ve been going out with someone for a while, and you share a taste for movies that are slightly out of the mainstream, this could be a great way to (1) check compatibility and (2) have several hours of discussion afterward.
The movie is fairly dark in tone, but it’s occasionally very funny; the adjective I use to describe it is “haunting.” Many viewers have compared it to The Usual Suspects, which I think is fair, but Memento is far more ambitious and is actually about something.
It’s a neo-noir story, about a guy looking for his wife’s murderer. Twist number one: He has neurological damage, and can’t form new memories. (This is a rare but real condition.) He can hold onto a thought for two or three minutes, sometimes longer, but after that it fades completely and he doesn’t remember it at all. In order to cope with this and get through the day, he writes himself lots of notes and takes Polaroids to capture important facts he may need later.
Twist number two (and this is the doozy): The story is told backwards. We begin at the end, and work back in time. This puts us in the main character’s head: He doesn’t remember what happened right before, and because we start each scene cold without the setup, we have as little information as he does. It sounds really confusing, but it works amazingly well when you actually see the movie.
I can’t say anything else without giving away major parts of the movie. All I’ll say is this: This unusual structure works on several levels. It’s more than a gimmick. It’s more than a self-consciously clever device with a knockout twist “ending.” It is a deep, profound movie that will stay in your mind for days afterward.
So, a date movie, I dunno. Depends on the date.
Well, I’m never going to post during the lunch hour again. Click once, leave the window alone, still get three posts. Sigh. To any mod who happens by and feels like they don’t have enough to do, feel free to delete. Thanks.
bump
Saw it several weeks ago, still thinking about it and talking it over with my mates. Now here comes the girly part - Guy Pearce is lovely and I would jump him in a minute
'cept he needs to gain a stone for my liking. Very smart movie indeed.
For anyone who’s interested, I’ve now got a full-length review of Memento on my website:
Tretiak - Thanks for the recommendation. I never even opened this thread, I simply went based on the thread title and faith in Dopers (OK, I peeked at an ad and liked the cast). Just wanna second what everyone else has said. Not knowing too much is part of the appeal, so go before someone tells you about it!
I’m seeing it this Friday in Pittsburgh. I’ll tell yinz how I liked it afterwards (if I remember- teehee!)
FTR, the Memento website is pretty darn cool as well. Good use of Flash and everything (unlike the overwhelming majority of movie sites, IMHO).
Those of you who saw the movie will appreciate the site as well (looking back at it, probably even more so than those who have yet to watch the film).
In fact, I’d strongly discourage anyone who hasn’t seen the movie from visiting the website (even the non-Flash, HTML portion), since there are some pretty heavy-duty spoilers involved (certainly a couple key facts that are bound to influence the way you perceive the film from the word go)
It is pretty cool, though.
Please tell me that the reverse aspect isn’t a spoiler. PLEASE. I’m very interested in seeing this movie now, and would be heartbroken to find out that going backward in time is one of the major surprises.
Rest assured, the reverse aspect it is not a spoiler. But it would be wise of you to see it as soon as possible because people will be talking about this one real soon.
JJ’s right, Mr. Cynical. The reversed storytelling is established from the very first shot of the movie, where we watch a Polaroid fade from fully developed backwards to blank white. We then see the (chronologically final) scene play out briefly in forward time, jump back a bit, play up to what we know, jump back again, etc. It’s a feature inherent to the film from the very beginning; not a spoiler at all.
Of course, it’s only playing in two theaters in town. One of which is like 40 miles away from me! Damn damn damn damn!
I hereby vow to immediately tune out whenever it is mentioned, until I see it!
I don’t know about the site being a spoiler. I visited the site before seeing the movie and except a few relatively minor details, didn’t have any “damn, the site ruined it for me” moments. And even the minor details were pretty darn minor.
Visiting it in retrospect, however, it does make a lot more sense and in that respect seems kind of spoileresque.