Memento (2000)

A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.

Director:

Christopher Nolan

Writers:

Christopher Nolan (screenplay), Jonathan Nolan (short story "Memento Mori")

Stars:

Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Top 250 #34 | Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 46 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Guy Pearce	...	Leonard Shelby
Carrie-Anne Moss	...	Natalie
Joe Pantoliano	...	Teddy Gammell
Mark Boone Junior	...	Burt
Russ Fega	...	Waiter
Jorja Fox	...	Leonard's Wife
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Sammy Jankis
Harriet Sansom Harris	...	Mrs. Jankis
Thomas Lennon	...	Doctor
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Dodd
Kimberly Campbell	...	Blonde
Marianne Muellerleile	...	Tattooist
Larry Holden	...	Jimmy

Storyline

Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line moves forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time.

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Plot Keywords:

Memory | Short Term Memory | Murder | Short Term Memory Loss | Polaroid | 

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Taglines:

Some memories are best forgotten

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Memento

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Amnesia

Filming Locations:

Altadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$235,488 (USA) (16 March 2001)

Gross:

$25,530,884 (USA) (9 November 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Newmarket Capital Group, Team Todd, I Remember Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was filmed in Southern California, in and around the Sunland/Tujunga area. Other driving scenes were filmed in Burbank on Victory Blvd.

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Goofs

Leonard goes to the Discount Inn, and the manager takes him to room 303; when Leonard realizes that it is not his room and the manager admits to also renting him room 304 because business was slow, Leonard calls the manager Burt. In that particular entire sequence, Burt has on no name tag, nor does he mention his name to Leonard.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Leonard Shelby: [voiceover] So where are you? You're in some motel room. You just - you just wake up and you're in - in a motel room. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's just the first time you've been there, but perhaps you've been there for a week, three months. It's - it's kind of hard to say. I don't - I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.

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Connections

References Fear (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Ipanema Dreaming"
Written by Daniel May
Performed by Daniel May
Published by Revision West (BMI)
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

Best Movie of 2001 (Thus Far)

Incredible, riveting and powerful. What else could I say? This movie has all of the qualities of classic film noir as well as the magnitude of an original, unique concept that has been tried and tired before but works here.

Guy Pearce has been underrated for years (just think back now to Priscilla and can you believe this is the same guy) and finally might get the recognition here that was at least well-deserved of him back for LA Confidential. Powerful perfomances, well developed story with suspensful buildup of what our main character pieces together little by little makes this a must see.

Easily in my top 100 of all time.