Genre Grandeur – Memento (2000) – Encore Review 2 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Unreliable Narrator movies here’s a review of Shutter Island (2010) by James of Blogging By Cinemalight.

Thanks again to Lisa Leehey of Critical Critics for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Aaron Neuwirth of the Code is Zeek and we will be reviewing our favorite Horror-Comedy Films.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Feb by sending them to scaryfunnyaaron@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Aaron!

Let’s see what James thought of this movie:

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“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They’re just an interpretation, they’re not a record, and they’re irrelevant if you have the facts.” – Leonard Shelby

Number of Times Seen – Between 10-15 times (twice in theater, DVD, 27 Mar 2014, 27 Aug 2017 and 31 Jan 2021)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A man suffering from a memory disorder tries to find the man who murdered his wife.

My Take on it – This was the first film that I thought of when Lisa suggested this genre, because of the way that even the narrator doesn’t know that he is being unreliable and thinks that he knows what is going on.

The story is told in such an amazing way because of the uniqueness of telling a story from end to start instead of in the normal way.

This kind of thing helps the viewer get an even better understanding about the life of this main character and we can empathize more with him because we get to see the story in short memory bursts with no memory of the immediate past which is similar to the way that his mind works.

The film has some great performnaces, but Guy Pearce is the best of them all in the lead role which shows how great an actor he can be.

The story is a complex puzzle that can be watched over and over in order to try and fully understand everything that transpires here.

The plot is great and plays out in a very entertaining and engaging way throughout.

Having seen this film in both linear (via the DVD, see the Trivia section below) and non-linear form, things work so much better in the innovative non-linear version.

We all now know how innovative and groundbreaking a writer and director Christopher Nolan is, but this film, which was one of his very first is further proof of things all the way from the beginning of his career.

Bottom Line – Amazingly told story that is done in such a unique way. This adds so much to the way that one views this film and allows us to empathize more with the main character who lives his life in short spurts without any knowledge about the past. The performances are wonderful to watch and Pearce shows how great an actor he can be in this role. The film is one that needs to be watched numerous times in order to fully grasp everything that transpires here. Things play out in such a fascinating way that helps make things so much more enjoyable and entertaining to watch unfold. This film is perfect proof of how innovative and creative a writer and director Nolan can be. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The Limited Edition DVD (and the standard Region 2 edition) allows the movie to be watched in the exact chronological order of the events in the film. The first couple of scenes of the regular cut of the movie appear normal in this version, meaning they are not reversed. However, this version of the movie on Disc 2 is quite difficult to reach (the user must answer several questions and solve a puzzle), and forward, reverse, and chapter skip capabilities are disabled. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)