Real Men Love Memento

One of the great things about this movie is that because it progresses backwards, each scene takes you back to the period before the last to reflect how memories work. The most recent event happens first, before the film pushes back into the past to reveal the events that led to that point. Incidentally, Memento also reunited Matrix alums Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The Plot

Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) wakes up in the middle of the night to discover his wife being raped and murdered in the bathroom by burglars. Upon attempting to stop the assault, he is also attacked and left with brain damage. The brain damage leaves him otherwise normal except for a rare condition in which he is unable to form new memories. “I have this condition,” he tells everyone he meets, “…everything just… fades.” And that’s exactly what happens. Leonard will be in the middle of a task and, if he is interrupted, he’ll forget what he was doing.  

Case in point: a scene opens with Leonard running through a neighborhood. “Ok…what am I doing?” he asks himself. He looks over and sees another man running in an opposing alley. “Oh, I’m chasing this guy,” he answers himself, and turns down an adjoining alley to catch him. The man also turns, raises his gun and shoots at Leonard. “No… he’s chasing me,” he responds to himself calmly, and turns to run in the other direction. 

Anyway, Leonard is obsessively searching for the man who raped and killed his wife, “John G.” He has the police file from the investigation, and he’s obsessed with solving the murder, but the holes in his memory and the holes in the police file make things very difficult for him. To keep the facts straight, and to continue functioning in life, Leonard has a system…

The Tattoos

The first tattoo, written in reverse so he can read it in the mirror, tells Leonard the basis of his mission: “John G raped and killed my wife.” This way, when he realizes he has these tattoos of facts and helpful information every morning when he wakes up, he can start the day with the same goal in mind: obtain new facts to solve the crime. 

To keep the facts he discovers straight, he makes a note to himself to tattoo these facts onto his body. This is the only way he knows information obtained is information he can trust.

With each uncovered fact, Leonard believes himself one step closer to finding his wife’s murderer. He is focused and organized toward the continuation of his investigation. The only problem is: who can you trust when you can’t remember meeting a person from day to day?

And, by the way, how badass do you have to be to tattoo yourself with a ballpoint pen and a needle? 

“Teddy.” (Joe Pantoliano)

When the movie begins, we’re treated to a Polaroid image of a dead body, and it slowly fades away as the Polaroid reverses itself back into the camera, and we learn that the dead body is Teddy. Leonard kills Teddy. Why? It takes us the whole movie to find out, but when we do, it is truly rewarding. It is definitely NOT for the reasons we would assume. 

Throughout the course of the movie, we are led to believe that Teddy is Leonard’s friend. Is this true? Good question. Because Leonard has to keep relearning who people are every day, he's in a very difficult position in terms of knowing who he can trust.

“Have I told you about my condition?” “Only every time I see ya.” 

Someone is definitely manipulating Leonard… but is it Teddy, or is it… 

Natalie (Carrie Ann-Moss)

When we first meet Natalie, it is actually the last time Leonard is seeing her (remember, the movie moves in reverse), and she helps him to discover the identity of “John G.” The reason she helps him, we discover, is because she has lost someone, too. But, like everything else in this movie, it is not as it seems. Who is Natalie, really? When we delve far enough into Leonard’s memory to discover Natalie’s true purpose in helping Leonard, and... well... let’s just say it definitely puts things in a different perspective.

The Polaroids

Besides the “freaky tattoos,” as Natalie so eloquently puts it, Leonard uses Polaroids to keep track of the places, people and things with which he interacts.

Discount Inn, the motel where Leonard has at least one room.

Leonard’s car.

“Who the f**k is Dodd?”

Remember Sammy Jenkis…? 

Leonard explains to those he encounters the story of Sammy Jenkis, whom he encountered during his insurance investigating days. Sammy suffered an injury which ruined his short term memory so that he could no longer create new memories or learn things through repetition. Leonard believed that there was nothing physically wrong with the man, and it in turn resulted in the death of Sammy’s wife...

...or did it? A big reveal later in the movie reminds us that memory is truly unreliable and that, sometimes, we lie to ourselves to make ourselves happy.