Memento (2000)

In British writer/director Christopher Nolan's unique, neo-noirish, thought-provoking, and originally-told puzzling who-dun-it thriller - it was challenging and confusing in itself just to watch due to its non-linear, backwards narrative structure. An earlier film with the same technique of reversed events was Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1983). The themes of this very disorienting and gimmicky film were manipulation of a person's impaired memory and self-deception, grief, repression, guilt and vengeance. The gimmick was intended to convey the memory-confusion of the main protagonist, and pass on some of his disorientation to the film viewing audience.

The original screenplay by director Nolan was based upon a 2001 short-story ("Memento Mori" and published in Esquire Magazine) written by his brother Jonathan Nolan. On a budget of $9 million, the film made $25.5 million (domestic) and $40 million (worldwide). Its tagline was: "Some memories are best forgotten."

A crucial fact about the smoothly-edited film was that all the black and white inserted scenes in the film played in correct chronological order, while the 22 fragmented color scenes (each about five minutes in length) played in reverse order (although they were chronological within the segment itself). The color scenes were the main narrative of the story. The B/W scenes had all taken place before any of the events shown in the color segments. There were also additional flashbacks within some of the color and B/W segments. Both narratives played separately and alternately until the film's climactic conclusion when the two strands merged into a color sequence - at the time of the strangulation of Jimmy Grantz.

The twisty film included mainstays of film noirs - an unreliable narrator, a man in a dark, cruel and untrustworthy world, and a quest to find the truth. In the main plot, the protagonist was suffering from a chronic disorder known as anterograde amnesia (aka Korsokoff's syndrome with an inability to form new memories - i.e., short-term memory loss); he was investigating the brutal and cold-blooded rape and murder of his wife during a late-night burglary; (the main character suffered temporary amnesia during the attack due to a blow to his skull); he proceeded to use his own self-inflicted tattoos, professional tattoos, Polaroids, and cryptic notes to aid his short-term memory and provide clues to finding a second intruder who got away.

Things were further complicated by the fact that the memory-impaired protagonist was being provided with faulty information from two unreliable and manipulative characters who deliberately lied to him, knowing that he would soon forget what they told him. In two separate plot strands, the two deceitful characters had persuaded the protagonist to believe that their murder targets (Dodd and Jimmy Grantz (or John G)) were deserving because they were identified as his wife's killer. Also, the plot element about the incident involving the main character's wife was called into question - was she actually raped and killed, or was she just raped, and then died due to overdoses of insulin?

In fact, due to later revelations regarding the protagonist, it was concluded that his final targeted suspect might have been the 'wrong guy' and wasn't responsible at all for the death of his wife. He may have mixed up certain facts and/or perhaps was in denial about his own unremembered past. It was entirely possible, due to the film's final sequence ("I'VE DONE IT") that the main character was still incarcerated in an insane asylum (or had escaped) and was imagining everything.

• at the conclusion of the title credits, a Polaroid color photo of a murder scene (a bloodied body was on a floor) slowly faded away and became UN-developed - providing a clue that the film was running backwards, and emphasizing the film's theme of fading memories; the photo was held by ex-insurance fraud investigator Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) after he had committed a murder
• in the film's first scene (although it was located chronologically at the end of the story due to its reversed order), Leonard had just apparently killed his confidante/associate: "Teddy" Gammell (Joe Pantoliano), a crooked SF undercover cop whose real name was John Edward Gammel (John G); whether Leonard was right or not, he believed that Teddy was one of the murderous burglars and perpetrators of a hideous crime; the scene backpedaled to moments earlier when Leonard drove Teddy to an abandoned warehouse, and was reminded by notes on a Polaroid photo identifying Teddy that he must be eliminated: "DON'T BELIEVE HIS LIES. HE IS THE ONE. KILL HIM"; he pulled his gun on Teddy and vengefully threatened: "Beg my wife's forgiveness before I blow your brains out"; Teddy vainly tried to dissuade him: "You don't know what's going on. You don't even know my name... You don't know who you are"
• in the film's reversed chronology, in the first B/W segment (signifying a much earlier time period), Leonard was viewed in Los Angeles in an "anonymous room" (# 21) at the Discount Inn (actually, he was being ripped off and tricked by motel clerk Burt (Mark Boone Jr.) into renting two rooms: # 21 and # 304); in the next color segment, he told the motel clerk a little bit about his short-term memory loss issues due to a recent head-skull injury: ("I have no short-term memory....I can't make new memories"); he was also receiving phone calls from an unidentified caller (presumably Teddy)
• due to his memory problems, Leonard had devised clever methods to remember things and establish some sort of objectivity about the world around him -- by writing notes, taking Polaroid pictures, and tattooing messages on his body; the cryptic notes included the following:
  • a reminder to "SHAVE"
  • a photo of his associate "Teddy" - with the added note on the back: "Don't Believe His Lies. He Is The One. Kill Him"
  • a tattoo on his hand: "remember Sammy Jankis"

Leonard's Meaningful Memory Device - Photos and Tattoos
"Teddy"	"Don't Believe His Lies. He Is The One. Kill Him"
"Remember Sammy Jankis"	"Remember Sammy Jankis"

• at a restaurant, Leonard was given his own (2nd) hotel room (# 304) key and a Polaroid photo of the Discount Inn by femme fatale Natalie (identified later); inside his alternate hotel room, Leonard was keeping track of clues with a wall-mounted, hand-drawn paper map with attached yarn and Polaroid photos; to help him (after Leonard had helped her), Natalie had manipulatively supplied Leonard with an envelope - containing proof from the DMV:
  • Teddy's driver's license, expiration date 02-29-01 (a date that doesn't exist!)
  • Teddy's automobile title with his license plate number (discrepancies would later show up regarding the license plate's numbers and letters)
  • Teddy's address in SF had a non-existent zip code 94181; it was another transposing error, and should have been 94118
• "Teddy" was actually named John Gammell (or John G), and therefore was suspect and couldn't be trusted: ("DON'T BELIEVE HIS LIES - HE IS THE ONE - KILL HIM"); Leonard was convinced that "Teddy" (or John G.) should be his target (as the second intruder) - to successfully avenge his wife's rape/death ("My wife deserves vengeance")
• Leonard's entire body was covered in tattoos, with clues and statements such as: "Don't trust your weakness," "John G Raped and Murdered Wife" (a reversed mirror image across the top of his torso), "Find Him and Kill Him," "She is Gone, Time Still Passes," "Consider the Source - Memory is Treachery"; on his left thigh were two tattoos: "Fact 5: DRUG DEALER," and "Fact 6: car license number SG13 7IU"; on his left forearm were two other tattoos: "Fact 1: MALE," "Fact 2: WHITE," and on his right forearm was the reminder: "Fact 3: FIRST NAME JOHN or JAMES"; further down was "Fact 4: LAST NAME G___"

Leonard's Tattooed Body With Clues	Fact 5 and Fact 6
Fact 3: First Name John (or James)	Fact 1 and 2: Male, White

• over lunch with Teddy, Leonard described what he was vengefully investigating - the allegedly brutal and cold-blooded rape and murder of his beloved wife Catherine (Jorja Fox); afterwards, he returned to his hotel and realized he was being taken advantage of and was paying for two rooms
• in the B/W segments, Leonard was often talking on the phone from his motel room with an unidentified caller (Teddy)
• he related a revealing but semi-confused story (intermixed with facts about his own life) about his first big claims investigation of an insurance case; a client named Sammy (Stephen Tobolowsky) (whose name was tattooed in cursive writing on Leonard's left hand as "remember Sammy Jankis") was a married, 58 year-old semi-retired accountant who had an accident (a car crash) that damaged his hippocampus and also caused anterograde amnesia (short-term memory loss); Leonard recounted how Sammy suffered from apparent memory loss (like his own affliction)
• in Sammy's tragic case, he was dutifully administering insulin shots for his diabetic wife Mrs. Harriet Jankis (Harriet Sansom Harris); Leonard thought that Sammy was not really suffering from memory loss, in order to receive a large insurance payout; the company tested Sammy for months to see if he was a fraud; then Leonard decided to expose Sammy during his investigation into his mental condition; Leonard harshly denied Sammy's accident insurance claim, arguing it was a psychological (mental) and not an objectively-real physical problem, and as a result, the insurance company ruled that Sammy wasn't covered for mental illness
• the ruling created a real hardship for Sammy's wife, who then tried to get her husband to snap out of it: ("If I just could say the right thing, he'd snap out of it and go back to being normal") and came to visit Leonard's office to try and persuade him to honor the claim; at the conclusion of the Sammy episode in the film, Leonard (in a B/W segment) told his caller that Sammy's wife found the ultimate way to test her husband's memory ("his final exam") by repeatedly asking him to administer her insulin shots ("She really thought she'd call his bluff. Or she just didn't want to live with the things she'd put him through") - and he obliviously and dutifully gave her dose after dose after dose - until she died of an overdose ("She went into a coma and never recovered"), and Sammy was institutionalized; it proved that Sammy wasn't a "con-man" and that his wife's intentions were honorable: "She wasn't interested in the money. She just needed to understand his problem"
  
  
• in a side-plot, a helpful female bartender (from Ferdy's) named Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) met up with Leonard in a restaurant; she provided him with information (DMV search documents) helpful to Leonard's search for his wife's murderer, although she had inadvertently targeted Leonard's friend "Teddy" (or John G) as a prime suspect; in exchange for her help, Leonard returned the favor by going after angry drug boss Dodd (Callum Keith Rennie); after the death of Natalie's drug-dealing boyfriend Jimmy Grantz (Larry Holden) (killed by Leonard with Teddy!), Dodd believed that Natalie was most likely hiding dead Jimmy's drugs and drug money; to seek vengeful retribution and avoid being killed by Dodd, Natalie (with bruises on her face) purposely manipulated and urged Leonard to help her and retaliate against Dodd
• during a brief chase (on foot and by car), Leonard realized he was being pursued by Dodd; because of his memory issues, he became confused about what he was doing and the identity of his pursuant; shortly later, the two confronted each other in Dodd's Mountcrest Inn motel room (# 6) in town; Leonard bound and gagged Dodd with duct-tape after a fight; ultimately, both he and "Teddy" coerced Dodd to be driven out of town

Dodd (Callum Keith Rennie) - A Drug Boss Threatened Natalie After Suspecting That She Had Taken Off With Her Dead Boyfriend Jimmy G's Drug Money

• about halfway through the film, "Teddy" tried to convince Leonard that he was very confused ever since the "incident" of his wife's murder-rape: "You don't have a clue, do you? You don't even know who you are....You do not know who you are. What you've become since the incident. You wander around playing detective. You don't even know how long ago it was.... Maybe you should investigate yourself"
  
  
• more information was presented by Leonard to Natalie about the violent death of his wife, relayed in a flashback; Leonard heard noises in their bathroom; he entered with his gun drawn and found his wife being raped and strangled by a masked intruder after being wrapped in a shower curtain on the bathroom floor; he shot at the masked man and possibly killed him; Leonard was thrown into a mirror (by the still-alive assailant, or a second unseen individual), and suffered a severe blow to the head; he fell unconscious to the bathroom floor next to his wife

The Rape-Murder of Leonard's Wife
Leonard's Head Injury - Thrown Into a Mirror

• Leonard recalled to Natalie about his wife's rape-murder: "There had to be a second man. Somebody hit me from behind. I remember. It's the last thing I do remember"; however, Leonard's account was untrustworthy and probably inaccurate; he stated that the police didn't believe his assertion that two people were involved; evidence at the crime scene did not confirm Leonard's firm belief that there was a second individual (named John G) due to various unproven assumptions he had made: "John G was clever. He was clever. He took the dead man's gun and replaced it with the sap he hit me with. He left my gun and the getaway car. He gave the police a complete package. They found the sap with my blood on it in the dead man's hand. And they only found my gun. They didn't need to look for anybody else"; Leonard summarized: "I was the only guy who disagreed with the facts and I had brain damage" - so afterwards, he decided to pursue the case on his own
• at Emma's Tattoo Parlor, Leonard had submitted himself to have Fact 5 and 6 tattooed on his left thigh; Leonard stated verbally that Fact 6 was SG13 7IU, but the tattoo he received was SG1371U (with two 1's); in the film, two versions of the license plate were viewed; these discrepancies symbolized Leonard's unreliable and confused state of mind
• in the tattoo parlor, "Teddy" instilled fear into Leonard by telling him that a "bad cop" (was he referring to himself?) had been looking for him, had checked him into the Discount Inn and was repeatedly calling, and had slipped things under his door; therefore, Leonard had to be careful (and even change his identity and his clothes); "Teddy" specifically mentioned that the cop was giving him "a line of crap about John G being a local drug dealer," when the real drug-dealer was James F. "Jimmy" Grantz, Natalie's boyfriend
• Leonard was very disturbed by Teddy's revelations; it appeared that undercover cop "Teddy" was manipulating and using the memory-damaged Leonard to kill a local drug-dealer, Jimmy G (i.e., John G = Jimmy G), who had a similar name (John or James) and the same occupation as his wife's assailant - a local junkie; Leonard kept referring to his Polaroid picture of "Teddy" with advice on the back: "DON'T BELIEVE HIS LIES" - and doubted "Teddy's" truthfulness
• however, plotting was under way for Leonard and Teddy to confront drug dealer Grantz; under "Teddy's" urging and 'direction', Leonard drove to an abandoned building and assaulted "Jimmy" Grantz who drove up; Grantz was forced to strip off his clothes; in Leonard's mind, he regarded Jimmy as his wife's 2nd killer; with an ulterior motive, "Teddy" had set up Leonard to do his dirty-work, to kill Jimmy and then abscond with $200,000 of stolen drug money in his vehicle's trunk; Leonard didn't care about the money, however; as he strangled Jimmy to death, he revealed his real motivation - to avenge his wife's death: "I want my f--king life back!"; after "Grantz" died, Leonard took a Polaroid of his body, and then swapped clothes with him (to change identities); as Leonard dragged Jimmy's body into the basement, he thought he heard Grantz softly murmur: "Sammy" - connecting everything together for him

Jimmy Grantz - Natalie's Boyfriend (with Drug Money), Confronted by Leonard (Who Had Been Sent by "Teddy")

Leonard Sought Revenge For His Wife's Death by Strangling Jimmy Grantz - Leonard Didn't Care About the Money

Leonard's Polaroid of Murdered Jimmy Grantz

• after killing Grantz, Leonard watched as "Teddy" drove up to check up on him; Leonard became suspicious - not knowing who "Teddy" was of course, and slugged him across the head; undercover cop Teddy was exasperated with Leonard and tried to reason with him and remind him: "I'm the guy that helped you find him"
• "Teddy" facetiously urged Leonard to be pleased about killing his wife's rapist: ("He raped your wife, he f--ked up your brain"); he congratulated Leonard on successfully tracking down the suspected "John G" (the rapist-murderer of Leonard's wife), and also admitted how they would also make some money on the side: ("Look, Leonard, Jimmy's your guy. I just figured we'd make a few dollars on the side"); "Teddy" lied that Grantz' $200 grand was to buy amphetamines from him, but then claimed he would split "half" with Leonard
• all along, Teddy knew the truth about the case, but believed he could help Leonard by restoring some meaning to his life (and find resolution about his wife) rather than having him face reality; Teddy was clearly knowledgeable that Sammy's story, in parallel fashion, was actually Leonard's story; Leonard had projected his own life, and his accidental killing of his own wife, onto Sammy (a fictional character); Sammy Jankis' story was actually Leonard Shelby's story; Sammy NEVER really existed as remembered by Leonard
• "Teddy" reminded Leonard (who had forgotten), with a startling revelation, that he knew the 'truth' about Leonard and his wife -- things which Leonard did not want to face, and Teddy was attempting to convince Leonard to end his vengeful hunt: ("Great story. It gets better every time you tell it. So you lie to yourself to be happy. There's nothing wrong with that. We all do it. Who cares if there's a few little details you'd rather not remember?...Your wife surviving the assault. Her not believing your condition. The torment and pain and anguish tearing her up inside. The insulin"); Leonard was disbelieving and insisted that the insulin death of Sammy's wife wasn't related to him: "That's Sammy, not me...Sammy let his wife kill herself. Sammy ended up in an institution"
• "Teddy" equated Leonard with Sammy Jankis: ("Sammy didn't have a wife. It was your wife who had diabetes"); Leonard had killed his own wife, when she expired from a diabetic coma (not the rape!) caused by his insulin overdose; Leonard's wife, who didn't believe his loss-of-memory condition, had tested his short-term memory loss by demanding a succession of shots of insulin; he forgetfully complied, and provided her with too many insulin shots and she overdosed from the extra shots, which sent her into a coma and killed her; as the film unfolded, it was clear that Leonard had, ironically, remembered only some elements about his wife's traumatic death, but only as a projection onto a fictional accident insurance client named Sammy Jankis that he was investigating
• however, Leonard denied that his wife was diabetic ("My wife wasn't diabetic") - because if she had been, then it would have opened up the possibility that he had killed her with extra doses of insulin
• "Teddy" continued to remind Leonard that he thought he had gotten his revenge on his wife's rapist-murderer by killing Jimmy G (or John G): ("Come on, you got your revenge. Enjoy it while you still remember. What difference does it make whether he was your guy or not?"; however, there was much more that Leonard didn't remember
• "Teddy" made another shocking revelation - that Leonard had already killed his wife's 2nd rapist-attacker named John G. a year earlier: ("The real John G. I helped you find him over a year ago. He's already dead...I was the cop assigned to your wife's case, I believed you. I thought you deserved a chance for revenge. I'm the one that helped you find the other guy in your bathroom that night. The guy that cracked your skull and f--ked your wife. We found him, you killed him. But you didn't remember. So I helped you start looking again, looking for the guy you already killed"; "Teddy" claimed he had sympathized with Leonard and was attempting to convince Leonard to end his vengeful hunt and that he was blindly avenging an act that had already been avenged; the two killers were just a "couple of junkies"
• "Teddy" pointed out to Leonard the Polaroid photo that was taken a year earlier at the time of John G's bloody, vengeful murder - and Leonard was very happy at the time; Teddy stated he had given Leonard something to live for: ("I gave you a reason to live and you were more than happy to help"); and then "Teddy" gave his own assessment of Leonard's disoriented views: "You don't want the truth. You make up your own truth, like your police file. It was complete when I gave it to you. Who took out the twelve pages?"; acc. to Teddy, Leonard felt he needed the unsolvable, puzzling hunt about his dead wife to give himself a sense of purpose in life; Leonard was reminded that he had removed 12 pages of the police case's file "to create a puzzle you could never solve"
• Teddy tried to give himself credit for having pieced the puzzle together to help Leonard find inner peace: "I'm the one that put it all together. You, you wander around, you're playing detective. You're living a dream, kid. A dead wife to pine for, a sense of purpose to your life - a romantic quest that you wouldn't end even if I wasn't in the picture"
• feeling threatened by everything that Teddy had thrown at him, Leonard began to inaccurately turn his sights on "Teddy" (who admitted his name was John G) - he suspected that "Teddy" was the second murderous rapist-burglar of his wife

As the film ended after a complicated exposition of facts and theories:

• Leonard emptied his gun, to fool himself into thinking he wasn't a "killer" (voice-over: "I'm not a killer. I'm just someone who wanted to make things right")
• he wrote on the Polaroid of "Teddy": "DON'T BELIEVE HIS LIES" - to convince himself that "Teddy" was the guilty 2nd rapist-killer. Leonard confusingly suspected "Teddy" was a rapist-killer - with the John G name; in the end, Leonard couldn't face the fact that he himself was the killer that he had been searching for
• Leonard burned the Polaroids of Grantz' dead body and of his own picture after murdering John G
• Leonard knew that he couldn't remember what "Teddy" was telling him, and how he would continue his guilt-ridden vengeful mission to search for a killer: ("Can I just let myself forget what you've told me? Can I just let myself forget what you've made me do? You think I just want another puzzle to solve?"); so Leonard set up "Teddy" as his next 'John G' suspect, although "Teddy" was innocent and was NOT the second attacker of Leonard's wife ("Do I lie to myself to be happy? In your case, Teddy, yes, I will")
• Leonard decided to copy "Teddy's" license-plate number (SG13 7IU) on his '84 Chevrolet, although he mistakenly wrote it (SGI3 7IU); he later used the license to track down Teddy's whereabouts through DMV records (with Natalie's help)
• although Teddy objected, Leonard stole Jimmy's car keys and Jaguar car (with the money in the trunk): ("I think I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer") - and drove off
• Leonard delivered a final voice-over while driving away - with his eyes closed momentarily:

  "I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. Do I believe the world's still there? Is it still out there?... Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different -- Now, where was I?

• he drove off to have the 'wrong' license number tattooed on his leg at Emma's Tattoo parlor - to help him track down the killer
• during his drive when he shut his eyes for a moment, Leonard experienced a wish-fulfillment fantasy, with his wife next to him caressing his chest, where he had tattooed: "I'VE DONE IT"; he was satisfied that he had "solved' his wife's rape/murder - again - by killing "Teddy" - the film's opening (or closing) sequence in an abandoned building