Sheer, absolute brilliance.That's what this is, all the way.
I think it was brilliant the way the whole sequence of events ran backwards.So we basically suffer from the same problem as Leonard, in that we have no idea what has just happened.And also, I love the scene where Natalie goads Leonard into beating her up, and then goes away, waits for him to forget it and comes back, saying it was someone else.
Although, and I got this off the IMDb, if Leonard has this memory condition that developed after his injury, how does he remember that he has a
condition?
Anyway, I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a film you really need to think about.

I liked it, but I have to admit that I didn't understand a few things at the end, like whether or not Guy Pearce was actually married, who was the Joe Pantoliano character, etc. It's the kind of movie you DEFINITELY have to not only watch from the beginning, but TAKE NOTES to keep track of everything! I also made a good joke about the movie:

Luigi: Wow! I just saw "Memento!"
My friend: So how was it?
Luigi Novi: Uh...........Dam, I can't remember.

Just saw this tonight, and MAN that is a good movie, if a little depressing/confusing. It's also virtually impossible to nitpick, continuity wise.

You never really do get all the details, and you never really learn what was true, and what Leonard made up for himself.

Still, a thoroughly GREAT movie that is going to stick with me a long time. Memento is the type of movie you don't forget.

How's that for irony?

You know what I would like to do? Wait for it to come out on video, and use my 2 VCRS to make a copy of it, but start at the end of the movie and keep taping each segment (you may or may not leave out the interstitial sepia-toned scenes), and delete any repeat/overlap. Maybe then it'll make a bit more sense to me.

Yikes, that's a lot of work...

but it sounds like a cool idea.

Just saw the movie. Man, I was different. This was the first movie all year that i couldn't predict the ending, or any important plot points. I just thought it was great.

Everything was so surprising. The ending blew me away. The thing end technically the beginning blew me away.

The most ironic thing is that I won't ever forget this movie.

GREAT movie.

Absolutely

I think the DVD has a menu selection or an Easter Egg that lets you watch the movie in true chronological order. I had to take my rented copy back so I couldn't hunt around for it.

The scene of him and his wife in bed, the triumphant tattoo on his breast, can't be a flashback. We've seen already that he doesn't have the tattoo, so he can't have had it in the past. How can he remember lying in bed with his living wife, with the tattoo "John G. raped and killed my wife" visible on his chest? It has to be a fantasy, which would make sense in the context. He thinks he has just avenged her (or has just set in motion a plan to avenge her). He's visualizing his own sense of satisfaction and peace.

The flaw comes late in the movie, when the film breaks its “pledge” to viewers. Instead of merely having no or severely flawed short-term memory, it turns out his long-term memory is all wrong, too; plot points either established by the Pearce character or set up as facts turn out not to be accurate – matters regarding a serious illness, possible insurance fraud, and even the murder itself.
The movie is certainly worthwhile (all actors in “Memento” are excellent, including Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior and Stephen Tobolowsky), and yet, the overall experience is like listening to a lecture by someone with a soft voice and atrocious accent, the accent getting worse as he goes along; by the end you’re worn out.

The flaw comes late in the movie, when the film breaks its “pledge” to viewers. Instead of merely having no or severely flawed short-term memory, it turns out his long-term memory is all wrong, too; plot points either established by the Pearce character or set up as facts turn out not to be accurate

That was the whole point of the movie. Since he had no short term memory all that he could do is rely on notes (Tatoos) that he left himself and what others told him. The movie's impact comes from the fact that you go into the ending (begining) knowing what he knows (nothing).

Meg: This was the first movie all year that i couldn't predict the ending...The ending blew me away.
Luigi Novi: How's this? The "ending" was the first thing they showed!

The 1983 movie, "Betrayal," starring Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons and Patricia Hodge, was also told in reverse order. A film I admired very much at the time, it seems to have vanished.

Did he have some scars where the tattoo was removed? I recall Carrie asking about the blank spot on his chest, and something along those lines.

I just recently happened to pull out an old Simpson's comic from my "to read" stack. It's from around 1998, and begins with an outrageous finale, then steps back ("Five minutes earlier.....") to find out how everyone got into that situation. Could that have given the Memento writers the idea?

You could say the same thing about the video for Moby's Run On. That went backwards as well as far as i remember. But somehow I doubt that's where the filmmakers drew their inspiration....

Instead of merely having no or severely flawed short-term memory, it turns out his long-term memory is all wrong, too; plot points either established by the Pearce character or set up as facts turn out not to be accurate – matters regarding a serious illness, possible insurance fraud, and even the murder itself.

As has been established in the movie, with his condition, he can pick up 'new' things through repetition. Which means that if people tell him the wrong information over and over, he'll eventually 'remember' it as the right information. Which is, presumably, also how he knows he has the condition.