IMDB 8.5
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Jack's Rating :
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Leonard's wife has been raped and murdered, and Leonard has been injured. Leonard has almost no short term memory, and as he investigates his wife's death he takes notes, but doesn't know who he can believe.
Christopher Nolan does a great job of bringing us in to Leonard's world. We only know what he knows. We don't know who to trust or who to believe. We are in a very unsettling and disturbing neo-noir world.
Leonard tattoos facts on to his skin. These are his memories.
But Leonard does remember what happened before his injury and he does remember his wife.
As Leonard begins to piece together the story of his wife's death, it is also revealed to us, but the journey is slow and painful.
In the days before his injury Leonard had investigated for his insurance company a man named Sammy Jankis, who had almost no short term memory. Leonard convinced the judge that the case was one of mental illness and not caused by an injury, so his company was not liable. Sammy's wife is the victim in this case because the insurance company won't help.
It seems as if Teddy knows everything, but Leonard, and the audience don't know if he is trustworthy. On the back of one of Leonard's pictures it says not to believe his lies. It even says he should kill him.
The movie keeps jumping back and forth to earlier times, It seems that time is not linear. We are seeing the scenes in the wrong order, but we don't know that for sure.
Christopher Nolan does a great job of bringing us in to Leonard's world. We only know what he knows. We don't know who to trust or who to believe. We are in a very unsettling and disturbing neo-noir world.
Leonard tattoos facts on to his skin. These are his memories.
But Leonard does remember what happened before his injury and he does remember his wife.
As Leonard begins to piece together the story of his wife's death, it is also revealed to us, but the journey is slow and painful.
In the days before his injury Leonard had investigated for his insurance company a man named Sammy Jankis, who had almost no short term memory. Leonard convinced the judge that the case was one of mental illness and not caused by an injury, so his company was not liable. Sammy's wife is the victim in this case because the insurance company won't help.
It seems as if Teddy knows everything, but Leonard, and the audience don't know if he is trustworthy. On the back of one of Leonard's pictures it says not to believe his lies. It even says he should kill him.
The movie keeps jumping back and forth to earlier times, It seems that time is not linear. We are seeing the scenes in the wrong order, but we don't know that for sure.
Natalie tells Leonard that she can say whatever she wants to him, because Leonard won't remember. She says some awful things to Leonard. She is really evil, Leonard finally hits her but he doesn't have a pen to write down how bad she is. She comes back in, and Leonard has forgotten.
We then figure out that the black and white sequences are progressing in chronological order while the color sequences are in reverse chronological order. One story being told forward and one being told backward until they meet in the middle.
Leonard tells Natalie the story of his wife's death. He was asleep and gets woken up. His wife is not is bed with him. He gets a gun and shoots at a man strangling his wife, who is wrapped in plastic. The man then smashes Leonard's head against a mirror. Leonard thinks there must be a second man.
Leonard's most prominent tattoo is the one on his hand. "Remember Sam Jankis." Somehow it seems like this is the key to the story. Leonard thinks his condition may be poetic justice for not believing Sammy. He had told the wife that he believed Sammy could remember. So she found a way to test him. She told her husband it was time for her medicine, over and over, but Sammy didn't remember. He wasn't faking. Sammy's wife died.
Leonard then kills a guy, and Teddy tells him that he is the guy who assaulted him. Then the twists continue. Teddy, who is a cop who was in charge of the investigation in to Leonard's wife's assault, tells him about his wife surviving the assault, and her not believing about Leonard's condition. It seems that Sammy's story was really Leonard and his wife's story. Leonard's wife had diabetes and Leonard kept giving her shots.
Teddy tells Leonard that they had found the killer over a year ago and killed him.
I usually don't like movies where you have to work really hard to figure out what is going on. I like to be entertained by movies. But this movie was so well done, so well crafted that I really enjoyed it.
We then figure out that the black and white sequences are progressing in chronological order while the color sequences are in reverse chronological order. One story being told forward and one being told backward until they meet in the middle.
Leonard tells Natalie the story of his wife's death. He was asleep and gets woken up. His wife is not is bed with him. He gets a gun and shoots at a man strangling his wife, who is wrapped in plastic. The man then smashes Leonard's head against a mirror. Leonard thinks there must be a second man.
Leonard's most prominent tattoo is the one on his hand. "Remember Sam Jankis." Somehow it seems like this is the key to the story. Leonard thinks his condition may be poetic justice for not believing Sammy. He had told the wife that he believed Sammy could remember. So she found a way to test him. She told her husband it was time for her medicine, over and over, but Sammy didn't remember. He wasn't faking. Sammy's wife died.
Leonard then kills a guy, and Teddy tells him that he is the guy who assaulted him. Then the twists continue. Teddy, who is a cop who was in charge of the investigation in to Leonard's wife's assault, tells him about his wife surviving the assault, and her not believing about Leonard's condition. It seems that Sammy's story was really Leonard and his wife's story. Leonard's wife had diabetes and Leonard kept giving her shots.
Teddy tells Leonard that they had found the killer over a year ago and killed him.
I usually don't like movies where you have to work really hard to figure out what is going on. I like to be entertained by movies. But this movie was so well done, so well crafted that I really enjoyed it.
Quotes:
Leonard Shelby: [running] OK, so what am I doing?
Leonard Shelby: Oh, I'm chasing this guy.
Leonard Shelby: No... he's chasing me.
Leonard Shelby: 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.
Natalie: What's the last thing that you do remember?
Leonard Shelby: My wife...
Natalie: That's sweet.
Leonard Shelby: ...dying.
Leonard Shelby: We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.
Teddy: You don't know who you are anymore.
Leonard Shelby: Of course I do. I'm Leonard Shelby. I'm from San Francisco.
Teddy: No, that's who you were. Maybe it's time you started investigating yourself.