Memento (2000)

Memento's central premise is a gimmick. At the risk of sounding immediately derogatory, Nolan bases his entire film around this logistcially complex, technically virtuosic gimmick, and commits to it to an inspiring level until the credits. However - don't get me wrong - a gimmick is not necessarily a bad thing. Gimmicks can be interesting tools for telling your story and can provide a unique experience outside of the homogeneity of many of the industry's major players. In Memento's case, I'm torn...

I have seen Memento twice now, and both times have overall been good experiences. The process of deciphering Nolan's intricate puzzle box is extremely engaging, even on a second watch where the box is already open. The twisting, unpredictable plot kept me hooked and it never quite descended into boredom, which is impressive enough in its own right for a film where every scene requires so much thought and attention. However, when Nolan was toiling away in the lab cooking up the recipe for this film, he seemingly forgot to add a crucial component: emotion.

Generally, for me, Nolan's films fall on a spectrum. At one end are films like Interstellar and Inception, where Nolan's complex ideas and plot are well balanced and supported by an emotional and engaging story. On the other end are films like Tenet, whose narrative gimmicks fall at the expense of the stories' emotional draws. In Memento's case, it falls a little closer to the Tenet side of the spectrum. Whilst the central performances from Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss are all well measured and compellingly performed, they never quite manage to breathe enough life the support the mechanical apathy that the screenplay often feels its teetering towards.

For its technical aspects, Memento is well realised. The mixing of monochrome and colour is well handled and the cinematography for both looks great; there's a real dirty, grainy vibe to many of the scenes that really lends to the tone of the story (though it may have just been a product of budgetary limitations.). The score is unobtrusive and effective, though never quite great, and the audio design works extremely well. Where is don't quite connect with the film, I deeply admire it for Nolan and the crews technical work.

The lesson to be learned from this is that Nolan really needs to focus on not letting the human aspects of his film get lost in a tar pit of complex story devices and big ideas. We know you are capable of it Nolan, the tears we cried at the end of Interstellar weren't just flukes or a trick of the light, as much as we may claim they were.