Jon_Are
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2001
- Messages
- 2,036
After reading all the raves for this film here at HTF, I came very close to purchasing it unseen. I decided to practice restraint and headed to my local video store to rent it. None available. Was this a sign I should purchase? I drove to another rental joint, telling myself that if it was not on the shelf, I would head over to Target and buy it. Luckily for me, as it turns out, I was able to rent it.
I try to not let high expectations and preconceptions diminish my viewing experience, but I suppose a certain amount is unavoidable. This is a clever, semi-engaging, and extremely well-acted movie, but my thumb is down. Here's why:
The reverse-chronology was a poor choice, and, once chosen, was handled badly. This technique worked beautifully in Betrayal, and again in Pulp Fiction, but in Memento, the editing seems to have been done with a paper shredder. Three minutes of this, a minute and a half of that, four minutes of this...the plot is difficult enough to decipher without this herky-jerky pacing. By the end, I gave up sorting out the story and my despair turned into anger that I was subjected to such an impossible task. I've read many, many interpretations on these boards and elsewhere, and no where have I run across a soul who feels confident his is the correct one (yeah, I know...the endless discussions are what make this movie so great). Reminds me of all the storys about The Big Sleep, in which even the director lost track of Whodunnit.
There are a lot of good things about the film, and I So wanted to like it; but I ultimately felt like a patsy for having been drawn into the mystery with the best intentions of solving it, and then feeling that there is no viable solution to be found.
Also...if Lenny can "make no new memories", why is he not shocked every time he sees his tatoos anew? How does he even know to refer to his photographs, and to flip them over to read his notes? How does he even remember he has a 'condition' (when he keeps explaining it to people he meets)? How does he know to return to the same tatoo parlor each time he needs a new one?
Want to view a smart, engrossing, solvable mystery? Check out The Spanish Prisoner.
I know I'm alone here, and I'm donning my asbestos underwear. Fire away.
Jon
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"This one goes to eleven." (Nigel Tufnel)
I try to not let high expectations and preconceptions diminish my viewing experience, but I suppose a certain amount is unavoidable. This is a clever, semi-engaging, and extremely well-acted movie, but my thumb is down. Here's why:
The reverse-chronology was a poor choice, and, once chosen, was handled badly. This technique worked beautifully in Betrayal, and again in Pulp Fiction, but in Memento, the editing seems to have been done with a paper shredder. Three minutes of this, a minute and a half of that, four minutes of this...the plot is difficult enough to decipher without this herky-jerky pacing. By the end, I gave up sorting out the story and my despair turned into anger that I was subjected to such an impossible task. I've read many, many interpretations on these boards and elsewhere, and no where have I run across a soul who feels confident his is the correct one (yeah, I know...the endless discussions are what make this movie so great). Reminds me of all the storys about The Big Sleep, in which even the director lost track of Whodunnit.
There are a lot of good things about the film, and I So wanted to like it; but I ultimately felt like a patsy for having been drawn into the mystery with the best intentions of solving it, and then feeling that there is no viable solution to be found.
Also...if Lenny can "make no new memories", why is he not shocked every time he sees his tatoos anew? How does he even know to refer to his photographs, and to flip them over to read his notes? How does he even remember he has a 'condition' (when he keeps explaining it to people he meets)? How does he know to return to the same tatoo parlor each time he needs a new one?
Want to view a smart, engrossing, solvable mystery? Check out The Spanish Prisoner.
I know I'm alone here, and I'm donning my asbestos underwear. Fire away.
Jon
------------------
"This one goes to eleven." (Nigel Tufnel)