Mini Review #2

Memento (2000)

I loved this movie. I thought it was very creative and original. The acting is very good and I love the idea behind. The mystery behind the plot made it interesting too because it was played in a backwards and forwards style and it leaves you wondering what happened next or at the beginning of the plot. I also have to say that I love all Christopher Nolan movies and that even though I have never seen it before it definitely lived up to all of his other movies.

Here are some interesting facts about this film:

• The test given to Sammy Jankis involving the electrified objects is based on a real life case study of a patient commonly referred to as HM, who suffered from the same form of amnesia following surgery to treat severe epilepsy. A doctor repeatedly shook HM's hand with a joy buzzer, shocking him every time. After a few trials, HM refused to shake hands. The test shown in the movie is an illustration that Sammy's condition was not identical to a real life case study, but would not have excluded him from insurance coverage.
• The film took 25 days to shoot.
• Christopher Nolan's screenplay was based on his brother Jonathan Nolan's story "Memento Mori". But the screenplay is still considered original (rather than adapted) because Jonathan's story wasn't published until after the film was completed.
• The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems.
• Stephen Tobolowsky has stated that during his audition for Sammy, he had mentioned to Director Christopher Nolan that he had experienced amnesia personally. A few years earlier, he was given an experimental pain killer that induced amnesia for a surgery he had undergone. Tobolowsky said it may have helped him get the part because no other actor would likely have had his first hand experience.