Memento (2000)

Christopher Nolan’s best what-the-hell-just-happened mind-bender has nothing to do with Leonardo DiCaprio or dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams that do not really make sense in the first place.  Instead, it is “Memento,” which stars the offensively underused Guy Pearce as a man who cannot form new memories.

Working backwards in time, Nolan slowly pieces together a work of masterful suspense, slowly building the tension and excitement with each scene.  The premise itself is clever and conceivable enough that, unlike certain other Nolan films that rhyme with Shminshmeption, the viewer does not spend half of his time rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. 

Indeed, “Memento” is a mind-blowingly terrific film, one that lingers in the mind long past the closing credits.  It spares itself the grandeur and flashing lights of Nolan’s more recent work (not only “Inception” but “Dark Knight” as well) but enthralls the viewer far more.  Among films in its suspense-action-mystery subgenre, “Memento” is a definite classic.

Score: 4/4