Memento (2000)

A man with no short term memory must remember so many things in order to find his wife's killer, the same person responsible for causing his short term memory loss.

Guy Pearce fittingly becomes lost in the emotional role of Leonard, a role filled with confusion, certainty and vehemence. Leonard doesn't know who to trust and has to write notes and snap photos to remember who he thinks people are. But someone may be trying to deceive him, or Leonard may be living a lie. As I've never seen Pearce act before, I was impressed by his performance as the scenes play out of order to mirror Leonard's plight.

The opening shot of the film is played in reverse, as a photograph fades back to white. This is like having a blank canvas on an 'Etch a Sketch.' Some people are good at using them to create decent artwork, others not so much. This is where Memento fails. It crafts 3/4 of an effective and pleasant portrait, but then decides to erase it.

With the sense of humor and reliability of an insolent child, it offers a pretentious and underwhelming twist instead. This twist emerges as a shocking turn for the worst, especially after so much buildup and countless u-turns. Despite my efforts to solve the mystery, and my investment to wait for the nearly 2 hour film to reveal the truth, Memento flatly explained how there was nothing behind the curtain. If that's true, then why was it on the screen to start with? I like teases with hair; not from women or movies. Leave the lame trickery to Scooby-Doo villains.