Memento
Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Produced by	Jennifer Todd Suzanne Todd
Written by	Jonathan Nolan (story) Christopher Nolan
Starring	Guy Pearce Carrie-Anne Moss Joe Pantoliano
Music by	David Julyan
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Editing by	Dody Dorn
Distributed by	Newmarket Films
Release date(s)	March 16, 2001 (limited)
Running time	113 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$4,500,000
Gross revenue	United States: $25,544,867 Worldwide: $39,665,950
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Memento is a neo-noir–psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from his brother Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori." It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during his wife's attack. This renders his brain unable to store new memories. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer. He is aided in his investigation by "Teddy" (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), neither of whom he can trust. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (410x607, 49 KB) Summary The poster for the film, Memento. ... Christopher Nolan (born July 30, 1970) is an Academy Award nominated film director, writer and producer. ... Jonathan Nolan (b. ... Guy Pearce in Memento (2000). ... Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Trinity in The Matrix trilogy. ... Joseph Peter Joe Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American actor. ... David Julyan is a musician who composed the score to the film Memento. ... Wally Pfister is an American cinematographer who is best known for his nomination for Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2005 for Batman Begins. ... Dody Dorn born 20 April 1955 (sometimes credited as Dody J. Dorn) is an Academy Award nominated American film and sound editor best known for working with director Christopher Nolan on several films including the post-modern, deconstructionist masterpiece about amnesia, Memento. ... Newmarket Films is an American film production and film distribution company which is a subsidiary of Newmarket Capital Group. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... USD redirects here. ... Neo-noir (a portmanteau of the Greek neo, new; and the French noir, black) is a type of motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style or visual elements that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 50s. ... Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Christopher Nolan (born July 30, 1970) is an Academy Award nominated film director, writer and producer. ... Jonathan Nolan (b. ... Memento Mori is a short story written by Jonathan Nolan. ... Guy Pearce in Memento (2000). ... Anterograde amnesia is a form of amnesia, or memory loss, in which new events are not transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. ... Joseph Peter Joe Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American actor. ... Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Trinity in The Matrix trilogy. ...

The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives—one in color, and the other in black and white. Leonard's investigation is depicted in five-minute color sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each scene begins, Leonard has just lost his recent memories, leaving him unaware of where he is or what he was doing. The scene ends just after its events fade from his memory. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. By the film's end, the two narratives converge into a single color sequence. 35 mm film frames from color film print (positive) with optical sound track (no digital sound tracks present). ... A black-and-white portrait. ... Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order. ...

Memento premiered on September 5, 2000 at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim, and received a similar response when it was released in theaters on March 16, 2001. Critics especially praised its unique, nonlinear narrative structure and themes of memory, perception, grief, and revenge. The film was successful at the box office and received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay and Editing. is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... The Venice Film Festival ( ) is the oldest film festival in the world. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... In the arts, the word nonlinear is used to describe events portrayed in a non-chronological manner. ... Narrative structure is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. ... In the visual arts, a theme is a broad idea or a message conveyed by work done in a visual experience, such as a performance, a painting, or a motion picture. ... For other uses, see Memory (disambiguation). ... In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ... It has been suggested that Anticipatory Grief be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Revenge (disambiguation). ... The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... // The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ... The Academy Award for Film Editing was first given for films issued in 1934. ...

Synopsis

Note: Because of the film's mixture of reverse and regular chronology, the order of events shown here differs with the order in the film in that this explanation is completely regular chronologically.

Leonard Shelby wakes up in an anonymous motel room, oblivious as to why he is in the room. He begins to have a phone conversation with an unknown caller, in which he relates the story of Sammy Jankis. Sammy suffered from anterograde amnesia, which prevented him from forming new memories. Leonard was an insurance fraud investigator assigned to determine if Sammy's condition was a physical injury that would be covered under his insurance policy. After several tests, Leonard concluded that Sammy's condition was psychological, and the insurance claim was denied. Sammy's wife, a diabetic, tried to confirm her belief that Sammy could make new memories, and tricked him into repeatedly giving her an injection of insulin. His wife went into a coma after he unknowingly administered an overdose, and Sammy was confined to a mental institution, incapable of remembering her death. Anterograde amnesia is a form of amnesia, or memory loss, in which new events are not transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. ... is really just water but doctors get you to pay more Not to be confused with inulin. ...

Leonard with a Polaroid photograph

Leonard tells the caller how his own wife died. During one night, two men broke into his home and raped and murdered his wife. Leonard shot one intruder, but was attacked from behind by a second man. He developed anterograde amnesia as a result of the injuries to his head, and because of this condition, he cannot remember anything after his accident for more than several minutes. Leonard is determined to locate and kill the second intruder, to avenge his wife's death. He develops a system to help compensate for his short-term memory, which involves taking instant pictures with a Polaroid 690 camera, writing notes to himself, and tattooing important facts on his body. One of the few clues to the second intruder's identity is a tattoo saying the killer's name is "John G." Teddy, the mysterious caller, tells Leonard that the murderer is a drug dealer, and that he can be found at an abandoned shack. Leonard goes to the rundown building and kills a man named Jimmy Grants. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... An instant camera is a type of camera with self-developing film. ...

A few minutes later, Teddy arrives at the abandoned building, and Leonard discovers he has been tricked. Jimmy Grants was a local drug dealer and was not involved in his wife's murder. Teddy reveals that Leonard's wife survived the robbers' attack, but she died from an insulin overdose administered by Leonard. According to Teddy, Sammy Jankis was a fraud who was not even married. Teddy claims to be a police officer who took pity on Leonard and helped him track down and kill the real John G. more than a year before. But Leonard forgot that he had had his revenge and began searching for John G. again. Teddy admits manipulating Leonard to kill Jimmy for the US$200,000 in the drug dealer's car. Jimmy brought the money to buy drugs that Teddy falsely claimed to have. USD redirects here. ...

Leonard in his motel room

Before Leonard can forget these revelations, he sets himself up to kill Teddy. He records Teddy's license plate number as John G.'s, leaving himself a note reminding him to have this information tattooed. Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing and car, leaves Teddy at the abandoned shack, and drives to the tattoo parlor. At the parlor, Leonard finds a note in his pocket from Jimmy's girlfriend, Natalie. Forgetting that he is wearing Jimmy's clothes, he thinks the note is for him. He goes to the bar where Natalie works, and after meeting her, tells her about his condition. Natalie offers to help Leonard, but she later tricks him into threatening a man named Dodd, who has been harassing Natalie for the money from Jimmy's drug deals. Although he is nearly killed, Leonard forces Dodd to leave town. Image File history File links Mementobwshot. ... Image File history File links Mementobwshot. ...

When Natalie learns Dodd is gone, she traces John G.'s license plate number from Leonard's tattoo. She gives him a copy of the man's driver's license, and Leonard matches the ID to his photo of Teddy, whose real name is John Edward Gammel—"John G." Leonard concludes that Teddy is the man who raped and killed his wife. He takes Teddy to the abandoned building where he killed Jimmy Grants a few days before, and shoots him in the head.

Chronology

When numbering the scenes chronologically, then sorting them how they appear in the film, the pattern becomes more clear. The letters A-V will represent the color scenes (with A happening chronologically first, and V chronologically last), and the numbers 1-22 represent the black and white scenes chronologically. The scenes appear in the film like this:

1, V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S, 5, R, 6, Q...20, C, 21, B, 22/A

So the two types of scenes alternate. The black and white scenes (numbers) start from the very beginning soon after the injury, and work forward to the climax at 22/A, while the color scenes (letters) work backward to the same climax at 22/A. The climax scene (22/A) changes to color halfway through, showing the convergence of the two interlain storylines. The order of the scenes creates confusion in the viewer, just as Leonard is confused, and the climax being in the middle of the chronological story causes a sense of intersection, one forward from the beginning, and one from the end backward.

Production

Development

In July of 1996, brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan took a cross-country road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, as Christopher was relocating his home to the West Coast. During the drive, Jonathan pitched the story for the film to his brother, who enthusiastically responded to the idea.^[1] After they arrived in Los Angeles, Jonathan left for Washington, D.C., to finish college. Christopher repeatedly asked Jonathan to send him a first draft, and after a few months, Jonathan complied.^[2] Two months later, Christopher came up with the idea to tell the film backwards, and began to work on the screenplay. Jonathan wrote the short story simultaneously, and the brothers continued to correspond, sending each other each draft of his own work.^[3]

Jonathan's short story, titled "Memento Mori", is radically different from Christopher's film, although it maintains the same essential elements. In Jonathan's version, Leonard is instead named Earl, and is a patient at a mental institution.^[4] Similar to the film, his wife was killed by an anonymous man, and during the attack on his wife, Earl lost his short-term memory. Like Leonard, Earl leaves notes to himself and has tattoos with information about the killer. However, in the short story, Earl convinces himself through his own written notes to escape the mental institution and murder his wife's killer for revenge. Unlike the film, there is no ambiguity that Earl finds and kills the anonymous man.^[4] A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

In July of 1997, Christopher's girlfriend Emma Thomas showed his screenplay to Aaron Ryder, an executive for Newmarket Films. Ryder said the script was, "perhaps the most innovative script I had ever seen,"^[5] and soon after, it was optioned by Newmarket and given a budget of $4.5 million.^[6] Pre-production lasted seven weeks, during which the main shooting location changed from Montreal, Canada to Los Angeles, California, to create a more realistic and noirish atmosphere for the film.^[7] The Travel Inn in Tujunga, California, was repainted and used as Leonard's and Dodd's motel rooms. Scenes in Sammy Jankis' house were shot in a suburban home close to Pasadena, while Natalie's house was located in Burbank.^[8] The crew planned to shoot the derelict building set (where Leonard kills Teddy and Jimmy) in a Spanish-styled brick building owned by a train company. However, one week before shooting began, the company placed several dozen train carriages outside the building, making the exterior unfilmable. Since the interior of the building had already been built as a set, a new location had to be found. An oil refinery near Long Beach was used instead, and the scene where Leonard burns his wife's possessions was filmed on the other side of the refinery.^[9] Emma Thomas is a film producer and Christopher Nolans wife since 1997. ... Newmarket Films is an American film production and film distribution company which is a subsidiary of Newmarket Capital Group. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Nickname: Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Los Angeles County Government  - Mayor Bob Foster Area  - City  65. ...

Casting

Brad Pitt was initially slated to play the lead role of Leonard. Pitt was interested in the part, but passed due to scheduling conflicts.^[10] Other considered actors include Aaron Eckhart and Thomas Jane, but the role went to Guy Pearce, who impressed Nolan the most. Pearce was chosen partly for his "lack of celebrity" (after Pitt passed, the budget could not afford A-list stars), and his enthusiasm for the role, evidenced by a personal phone call Pearce made to Nolan to discuss the part.^[11] William Bradley Brad Pitt(born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. ... Aaron E. Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is a Golden Globe nominated American film actor. ... For the 15th century English Bishop of Norwich, see Thomas Jane (Bishop of Norwich). ... The A-list is the roster of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. ...

After being impressed by Carrie-Anne Moss' performance in the 1999 science fiction film The Matrix, Jennifer Todd suggested her for the part of Natalie. While Mary McCormack lobbied for the role, Nolan decided to cast Moss as Natalie, saying, "She added an enormous amount to the role of Natalie that wasn't on the page."^[12] For the corrupt police officer Teddy, Moss suggested her co-star from The Matrix, Joe Pantoliano. Although there was a concern that Pantoliano might be too villainous for the part, he was still cast, and Nolan said he was surprised by the actor's subtlety in his performance.^[13] The rest of the film's characters were quickly cast after the three main leads were established. Stephen Tobolowsky and Harriet Sansom Harris play Sammy Jankis and his wife, respectively. Mark Boone Junior landed the role of Bert, the motel clerk, as Jennifer Todd liked his "look and attitude" for the part (as a result he has re-appeared in minor roles in other productions by Nolan).^[14] Larry Holden plays Jimmy Grants, a drug dealer and Natalie's boyfriend, while Callum Keith Rennie performs the part of Dodd, a greedy thug owed money by Jimmy. Rounding out the cast is Jorja Fox as Leonard's wife and Kimberly Campbell as the blond prostitute. This article is about the 1999 film. ... Mary McCormack in The West Wing episode The Wedding Mary McCormack (born February 8, 1969 in Plainfield, New Jersey) is an American television and film actress. ... Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951 in Dallas, Texas) is a Tony Award-nominated American character actor perhaps best known for playing amiable, brainy, and/or clueless characters, in television, stage, and film. ... Harriet Sansom Harris (born January 8, 1955), is an American actress born in Fort Worth, Texas. ... Mark Boone, jr. ... Callum Keith Rennie (born September 14, 1960) is a Canadian television and film actor. ... Jorja Fox (born Jorja-An Fox July 7, 1968 in New York, New York) is an American actress. ...

Filming

Filming officially took place from September 7 to October 8, 1999,^[15] a remarkably short 25-day shooting schedule. Pearce was on set every day during filming, although all three principal actors (including Pantoliano and Moss) only performed together the first day, shooting exterior sequences outside Natalie's house. All of Moss's scenes were completed in the first week,^[16] including follow-up scenes at Natalie's home, Ferdy's bar, and the restaurant where she meets Leonard for the final time. is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

Pantoliano returned to the set late in the second week to continue filming his scenes. On September 25, the crew shot the opening scene in which Leonard kills Teddy. Although the scene is in reverse motion, Nolan used forward-played sounds.^[17] For a shot of a shell casing flying upwards, the shell had to be dropped in front of the camera in forward motion, but it constantly rolled out of frame. Nolan was forced to blow the casing out of frame instead, but in the confusion, the crew shot it backwards.^[17] They then had to make an optical (a copy of the shot) and reverse the shot to make it go forward again. "That was the height of complexity in terms of the film," Nolan says. "An optical to make a backwards running shot forwards, and the forwards shot is a simulation of a backwards shot."^[18] is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

The next day, on September 26, Larry Holden returned to shoot the sequence where Leonard attacks Jimmy. Pearce asked Holden if he could perform the fight realistically, and Holden agreed. Holden later regretted the decision, saying Pearce nearly killed him in the fight.^[19] After filming was completed five days later, Pearce's voice-overs were recorded. For the black-and-white scenes, Pearce was given free rein to improvise his narrative, allowing for a documentary feel.^[18] is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Music

David Julyan composed the film's synthesized score. Julyan acknowledges several synthesized soundtracks that inspired him, such as Vangelis' Blade Runner and Hans Zimmer's The Thin Red Line.^[20] While composing the score, Julyan created different, distinct sounds to differentiate between the color and black-and-white scenes: "brooding and classical" themes in the former, and "oppressive and rumbly noise" in the latter.^[21] Since he describes the entire score as "Leonard's theme", Julyan says, "The emotion I was aiming at with my music was yearning and loss. But a sense of loss you feel but at the same time you don't know what it is you have lost, a sense of being adrift."^[22] Initially, Nolan wanted to use Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" during the end credits, but he was unable to secure the rights.^[23] Instead, David Bowie's "Something in the Air" is used, although another of Radiohead's songs, "Treefingers", is included on the film's soundtrack.^[24] David Julyan is a musician who composed the score to the film Memento. ... For other uses, see Synthesizer (disambiguation). ... Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (Greek: Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου IPA: ) is a world-renowned Greek composer of electronic, new age and classical music and musical performer, under the artist name Vangelis Papathanassiou (Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασίου) or just Vangelis (a diminutive of Evangelos) [IPA: or ]. He is best known for his Academy Award winning score for the film Chariots... Blade Runner is an influential 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. ... Hans Florian Zimmer (born September 12, 1957) is an Academy Award, Grammy, and Golden Globe award-winning film score composer from Germany. ... The Thin Red Line is an Academy Award nominated 1998 film which tells the story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. It marked director Terrence Malicks return to filmmaking after a twenty year absence. ... Radiohead are an English rock band. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 1947 January 8) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ... Something in the Air is the second track on David Bowies 1999 release, hours. ... Treefingers is the fifth track on the 2000 album Kid A by the band Radiohead. ...

Releases

The film gained substantial word-of-mouth press from the film festival circuit. It premiered at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation, and afterwards played at Deauville Festival of American Film and the Toronto Film Festival.^[25] With the publicity from these events, Memento did not have trouble finding foreign distributors, opening in more than 20 countries worldwide. Its promotion tour ended at the Sundance Film Festival, where it played in January 2001.^[26] A film festival is the presentation or showcasing of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues. ... The Venice Film Festival ( ) is the oldest film festival in the world. ... Sharon Stone at the Deauville American Film Festival in 1991. ... The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is generally considered to be one of the five top film festivals in the world. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks alongside the Cannes, France, Venice, Italy, Berlin, Germany, and Toronto, Canada festivals as one of the most prestigious in the world. ...

Finding American distributors proved more troublesome. Memento was screened for various studio heads (including Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein) in March of 2000. Although most of the executives loved the film and praised Nolan's talent, all passed on distributing the picture, believing it was too confusing and would not attract a large audience.^[27] After famed independent film director Steven Soderbergh saw the film and learned it was not being distributed, he championed the film in interviews and public events,^[28] giving it even more publicity, although he did not secure a distributor. Newmarket, in a financially risky move, decided to distribute the film itself.^[27] After the first few weeks of distribution, Memento had reached more than 500 theaters and earned a domestic total of $25 million in its box-office run. The film's success was surprising to those who passed on the film, so much so that Weinstein realized his mistake and tried to buy the film from Newmarket.^[29] Miramax is a Big Ten film distribution and production company. ... Harvey Weinstein at Cannes, 2002 Harvey Weinstein CBE (Hon) (born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. ... An independent film, or indie film, is usually a low-budget film that is produced by a small movie studio. ... Steven Andrew Soderbergh (born January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and Oscar-winning director. ...

Marketing

Jonathan Nolan designed the film's official website. Similar to the marketing strategy of The Blair Witch Project, the website was intended to provide further clues and hints to the story, while not providing any concrete information.^[30] After a short intro on the website, the viewer is shown a newspaper clipping detailing Leonard's murder of Teddy. Clicking on highlighted words in the article leads to more material describing the film, including Leonard's notes and photographs as well as police reports.^[31] The filmmakers employed another tactic by sending out Polaroid pictures to random people, depicting a bloody and shirtless Leonard pointing at an unmarked spot on his chest.^[32] Since Newmarket distributed the film themselves, Christopher Nolan edited the film's trailers himself.^[32] Sold to inexpensive cable-TV channels like Bravo and A&E, and websites such as Yahoo and MSN, the trailers were key to the film gaining widespread public notice. The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 independent horror film, financed and distributed by Artisan Entertainment. ... Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (and often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio waves transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in... This article is about the U.S. cable network. ... Biography is one of A&Es longest-running and most popular programs. ... Yahoo! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... For other uses, see MSN (disambiguation). ...

DVD release

The Special Edition DVD's menus are arranged as psychological tests. Highlighting certain objects will lead to special features.

Memento was released on DVD in the United States and Canada on September 4, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2002. It was later re-released in a limited edition DVD that features an audio commentary by Christopher Nolan, the original short story by Jonathan Nolan that the film was based on, and a Sundance Channel documentary on the making of the film.^[33] The DVD contains a hidden feature that allows the viewer to watch the film in chronological order.^[34] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Psychological testing or psychological assessment is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to infer generalizations about a given individual. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Sundance Channel logo used from 1996 to 2002. ...

The Limited Edition DVD is uniquely packaged to look like Leonard's case file from a mental institution, with notes scribbled by "doctors" and Leonard on the inside.^[34] The DVD menus are designed as a series of psychological tests; the viewer has to choose certain words, objects, and multiple choice answers to play the movie or access special features.^[34] Leonard's "notes" on the DVD case offer clues to navigating the DVD. Psychological testing or psychological assessment is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to infer generalizations about a given individual. ...

Reception

Memento was a box office success. During its opening weekend, it was released in only eleven theaters, but by week eleven it was distributed to more than 500 theaters.^[35] It grossed $25,544,867 in North America and $14,178,229 in foreign countries, making the film's total worldwide gross some $40 million as of August 2007.^[35] During its theatrical run, it did not place higher than eighth in the list of highest-grossing movies for a single weekend.^[36]

The film was nominated for Academy Awards in Original Screenplay and Editing, but did not win in either category.^[37] Because Jonathan Nolan's short story was not published before the film was released, it was nominated for Original Screenplay instead of Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but lost to The Believer. However, it won thirteen awards for Best Screenplay and five awards for Best Picture from various film critic associations and festivals, including the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.^[37] Christopher Nolan was nominated for three Best Director awards and was awarded one from the Independent Spirit Awards. Guy Pearce was accorded Best Actor from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.^[37] The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... The Believer is a 2001 film written by Henry Bean and Mark Jacobson, and directed by Bean. ... The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association. ... Founded in 1984, the Independent Spirit Awards were originally known as the FINDIE (Friends of Independents) Awards and presented winners with Plexiglas pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. ... The San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) is an organization of film reviewers from San Diego-based publications. ... The Las Vegas Film Critics Society (LVFCS) is a non-profit organization, composed of selected print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. ...

Critical response

Memento received an enthusiastic response from critics, earning a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates professional critiques.^[38] Online film critic James Berardinelli gave the film four out of four stars, ranking it number one on his year-end Top Ten list and number sixty-one on his All-Time Top 100 films.^[39][40] In his review, he called it an, "endlessly fascinating, wonderfully open-ended motion picture [that] will be remembered by many who see it as one of the best films of the year."^[41] Berardinelli praised the film's backwards narrative, saying that, "what really distinguishes this film is its brilliant, innovative structure," and noted that Guy Pearce gives an, "astounding...tight, and thoroughly convincing performance."^[41] William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes that Memento is a, "delicious one-time treat", and emphasizes that director Christopher Nolan, "not only makes Memento work as a non-linear puzzle film, but as a tense, atmospheric thriller."^[42] Rob Blackwelder noted that, "Nolan has a crackerjack command over the intricacies of this story. He makes every single element of the film a clue to the larger picture...as the story edges back toward the origins of [Leonard's] quest."^[43] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... James Berardinelli (born September 1967, New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an online film critic. ... The daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer is the second leading newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. ...

However, not all critics were impressed with the film's structure. Marjorie Baumgarten decided that the film relied too much on the story's reverse chronology and wrote, "In forward progression, the narrative would garner little interest, thus making the reverse storytelling a filmmaker's conceit."^[44] Sean Burns of the Philadelphia Weekly commented that, "For all its formal wizardry, Memento is ultimately an ice-cold feat of intellectual gamesmanship. Once the visceral thrill of the puzzle structure begins to wear off, there's nothing left to hang onto. The film itself fades like one of Leonard's temporary memories."^[45] While Roger Ebert gave the film a favorable three out of four stars, he did not think it warranted multiple viewings. After watching Memento twice, he concluded that, "Greater understanding helped on the plot level, but didn't enrich the viewing experience. Confusion is the state we are intended to be in."^[46] Philadelphia Weekly (PW), is a free alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ...

The novelist Joyce Carol Oates, writing six years after the film's release, also called Memento "ingeniously contrived" and "among the most admired" out of a long list of films that depict amnesia. ^[47] Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author and the Roger S. Berlind 52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978. ...

Scientific response

Many medical experts have cited Memento as one of the most realistic and accurate depictions of amnesia in any motion picture.^{[citation needed]} Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch called Memento "the most accurate portrayal of the different memory systems in the popular media,"^[48] while physician Esther M. Sternberg, Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at the National Institute of Mental Health identified the film as "close to a perfect exploration of the neurobiology of memory." Writing in the journal Science, Sternberg concludes: "This thought-provoking thriller is the kind of movie that keeps reverberating in the viewer's mind, and each iteration makes one examine preconceived notions in a different light. Memento is a movie for anyone interested in the workings of memory and, indeed, in what it is that makes our own reality."^[49] For other uses, see Amnesia (disambiguation). ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational research university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Christof Koch (born November 13, 1956) is an American neuroscientist. ... The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States federal governments principal biomedical and behavioral research agency. ... Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ...

See also

• Episodic memory

Episodic memory, or autobiographical memory, a sub-category of declarative memory, is the recollection of events. ...

References

Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic way. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic way. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer is the second leading newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Philadelphia Weekly (PW), is a free alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the literary magazine. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Christof Koch (born November 13, 1956) is an American neuroscientist. ... Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Memento (film)

• Memento at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site
• A detailed analysis of the film by Andy Klein at Salon.com
• Interview: Christopher Nolan by the Onion AV Club
• Review of Memento by the Onion AV Club
• Plot Holes: Memento, a musing on how certain discrepancies might be plot holes or of more significance, on Slate
• Memento and anterograde amnesia
• Metacritic: Memento
• Cinematographic analysis of Memento
• A guide to navigating the film's DVD menus

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Salon. ... Slate is an online news and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley and owned by Microsoft (as part of MSN). ... Christopher Nolan (born July 30, 1970) is an Academy Award nominated film director, writer and producer. ... Following is a 1998 crime film directed by Christopher Nolan about a young man who follows people he sees on the streets. ... This article is about the American remake. ... For the novel based on the film, see Batman Begins (novelization). ... The Prestige is a 2006 period film directed by Christopher Nolan, with a screenplay adapted from the 1995 World Fantasy Award-winning novel of the same name by Christopher Priest. ... The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. ...