Memento (2000) ♦Movie Reaction♦ First Time Watching! 

You should do Memento next.

The DVD version had an option where you could play the scenes in reverse, in chronological order. When you watch it that way, you realize that running it backwards isn't just a gimmick, watching it backwards really makes it more suspenseful and meaningful.

I like that you rewatch the movie before reviewing it. I don't think any other reaction channel does that. Thanks 😀👍

Fun little detail about Lenny claiming that conditioning works for him, unlike Sammy-at the "beginning" of the movie, when he enters the motel lobby, he tries to push the door open, but it pulls open. He never learns that by instinct, even though he would've gone through that door several times. If you like Guy Pearce you absolutely have to watch Ravenous! One of the most unique and engaging movies ever, super fun to watch, I wish more YT reactors would cover it 👍

I very much appreciate how much effort you put into rewatching before doing your final Discussion part. I know many drop that because it gets a lot less views, but I like that part just as much as the first reaction. Keep on keeping on.

The interesting thing about Memento is that the structure of it acts as a memory test for those watching it. A scene starts and unfamiliar actions happen, then a Sammy Jenkis scene, and then the next scene is leading into where the first scene started, forcing the audience to try to remember what was happening only a few moments before...

Your final thoughts are always very clever, but the insights you had about Memento to be a sad movie are really great. Love your reactions, Whimsory!

Your outros are legendary!!

"I like anything as long as it's good" - exactly.

If you like Guy Pearce, you need to watch "LA Confidential," an underrated masterpiece (nominated for multiple Academy Awards but overshadowed by "Titanic") also starring a young Russell Crowe in his breakout role.

I've seen this movie several times, and never have I ever realized how sad the concept is. Thank you for this reaction; totally humanized this movie for me in a way I'd never considered. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Only Nolan could tell a story in reverse and have it make sense, and even better in fact.

I know this movie really well, I still have a DVD copy of it in my cupboard. When first watching it I had a lot of trouble following the story because it seemed to jump around all over the place. Until, that is I realized how it had been edited, in reverse order of scenes (mostly). When I realized that, my mind just exploded at the sheer genius of it, because it gives us a real insight into the struggle that Leonard goes through on a daily basis. I then had to rewind back to the beginning and watch it all over again. The best movie to never win an Academy Award. Also, there are videos online about actual patients with "Anterior Grade memory loss", you wanna see something really disturbing.........?

Regarding your question, I have an excellent memory and it's not always a good thing! Sometimes you can be a hostage to the things that you "cannot" forget and continue to remember them over and over! On the flip side, my mom just recently passed away from dementia and her memory loss was heartbreaking! I don't wish upon anyone, the curse of remembering everything or not being able to remember anything, both can be equally evil!

If Guy Pierce is your thing, you'll enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo...He's a BAD BOY!

I like when you rant, Whimsory. You're a particularly interesting young lady. And I think you're brilliant. You did a terrific job with this review and I look forward to your next video. ❤

you put more work into your recap and review than anyone else. i don't know why i re-view movies this way. but i do & appreciate

In no way is Natalie a good person. That being said, a stranger showed up driving her boyfriends car, wearing her boyfriends clothes, claiming he had no memory. So... She may have been at least slightly justified in her attitude towards Leonard. One other side note about her, the drink scene. She did it to prove he really had no short term memory, once she was satisfied she stopped him out of kindness. But yeah, she's a drug dealers girlfriend and is generally crummy. But her boyfriend was murdered and the murderer stole his identity. So you know... I guess they're even?

damn, great choice Whims!! Memento is (in my humble opinion) Nolan's best movie.... I love your content 🤗

Glad you pointed out the setting. There are lots of good “Los Angeles” movies out there but Memento is an underrated one. Everything about it just feels like any old regular day back during that time, Pulp Fiction being another classic one.

What makes your reactions video so much better than most is the fact you actually take the time to discuss the film after watching it. Keep it up

When this movie came out it nearly broke my brain trying to figure it out. "The pens!" OMG, why is she collecting pens ... she leaves and just sits in the car, just long enough, then reenters knowing he won't remember? Dang, that was evil. I must have memory issues like you describe but I think of some of the cool things about it, like being able to watch movies, TV shows, or read books that I've already enjoyed, and enjoy them all over again. Ha.

The opening theme to this is incredible. One of my favorite single lines of a film is: "How am I supposed to heal if I can't feel time?" Heart-breaking. Interested to see your thought at the end of this.

Thanks Whimsory. Really appreciate and enjoy your post-movie discussions. If you ever start a book club I want in.

I really love this movie. It's so brilliantly edited... forcing you to experience each scene the same way that Leonard would be experiencing it: having little to no clue what just happened. Told in a traditional linear way the audience would have way more information than the protagonist. But told in reverse order we have almost the same amount. Brilliant. I also love the exploration of the theme of memory and how the film tackles that. Most people seem to assume that memory is reliable, when, as a matter of fact very well known among scientists, doctors, historians, and competent police investigators.... human memory SUCKS. It is SO unreliable. It can be SO easily distorted. Every time we remember something we think we are replaying a recording of a past event when in reality we are recreating it in our heads... overwriting what we remembered the last time... the more times we do this the more the memory gets distorted. And if we don't do it... it simply fades away. This movie explores the reliability of human memory SO well. Don't you think you're being a little hard on Natalie? I dunno. The story is confusing. Maybe you didn't fully grasp all of it... not an attack... that would be common. But consider things from her POV. She has never met Leonard, only heard about him through Teddy the scummy cop that does shady things with her boyfriend Jimmy sometimes. Jimmy goes off to meet someone some day, disappears. You fear the worst. Not much later, Leonard shows up wearing Jimmy's clothes and driving Jimmy's car. You figure out that Jimmy your boyfriend has been murdered, and Leonard probably did it, but he's too brain damaged to even realize what he did. You wouldn't be upset with Lenny? Natalie is, quite justifiably IMO, angry at Leonard... but... as she gets to know him... she starts to sympathize with him or at least feel pity for him. She starts to care about him a little. She feels affection enough to sleep with him. She realizes eventually that Teddy is the real culprit and he's just manipulating Leonard. Natalie changes her mind about Leonard and may even feel bad because she recognizes that she is also exploiting his handicap for her own ends. So she decides in the end to help him. She may or may not realize that by helping him she's also sealing Teddy's fate... I think she does... in which case... her goals and Leonard's align by the end of the movie because they both kind of want Teddy dead. re: Sammy Jankis: there's this big section of the story that is only ever vaguely implied that I think a lot of people watching it miss out on. Everything Teddy says at the end of the movie is true. Sammy Jankis was a liar and a conman. In Leonard's past life as an insurance claims investigator, he discovered this and outed Sammy for what he was. While doing this, he investigated the type of condition that Sammy was faking, and became very familiar with it. Some time passed. The home invasion incident happened. Leonard became brain damaged. His last memory is lying on the bathroom floor looking at his wife after she was violated and attacked. But... she survived. Married life after that was hard. Leonard couldn't form new memories, he was stuck at the attack. His wife couldn't cope. She wanted desperately for Leonard to snap out of it, so she did things like hiding food and then, finally, asking Leonard to give her multiple shots of insulin. Leonard wasn't faking it, though. He killed his own wife. After that, he was sent to live in a home. He didn't remember that his wife had survived. He didn't remember that he had killed her. So, constantly, every day, he would ask about this, and be reminded again what had happened. He had to experience the shock and grief of discovering that he had killed his wife over, and over, and over again. He couldn't bear this. He at some point decided that he needed to figure out a way to stop feeling this grief. So he started keeping notes. At first, he wrote in composition books. He started devising a plan. To remember this plan, he had to write it down and read and reread it multiple times every day. He knew from his research into the Sammy Jankis case that it was possible for people with this condition to form new memories... but they only way they could do it was through heavy repetition. He decided to force himself to create a new memory. That's when he gave himself his very first tattoo: remember Sammy Jankis. In his composition books, he wrote a new story about Sammy that was false. He read that story over and over and over and over and over again... until he started to remember it. In this story... it was Sammy who had a diabetic wife... not Leonard... it was Sammy who killed his wife accidentally... not Leonard... this is how he managed to go on living. And he gave himself a new mission in life: to find his wife's "real" killer. The guy who attacked them and got away. Only one of the cops who worked the Shelby home invasion case believed Leonard about the 2nd attacker. His wife didn't see it. Nobody else trusted Leonard because of his condition. That cop was Teddy. Leonard escaped from the hospital where he was being held and tracked Teddy down. He asked Teddy for help finding "John G"... and this started their weird partnership. At first, Teddy was actually interested in helping Leonard. And he did. Together, they managed to track down the real John G. And Leonard killed him. Teddy took a Polaroid to celebrate. But... Leonard didn't remember what had happened. He woke up the next day still wanting vengeance. Unable to change Leonard's mind or get him to remember what happened... Teddy decided to make the best of it. And, turns out, Teddy was a dirty cop and a bit of a scumbag who did drug deals on the side with characters like Natalie's boyfriend Jimmy Grants. Teddy would manipulate Leonard into being his enforcer... play games with him... get him to go after different characters and lead him to believe that each of them was "John G." This went on for a while. Teddy told himself it was okay because Leonard didn't know any better. He was happy as long as he was hunting... somebody. Things went wrong when Teddy had Leonard kill Jimmy. Presumably to get the huge stash of cash Jimmy had in the trunk of his Jaguar. and Leonard figured out that it was the wrong guy. Teddy confessed to everything... assuming tht Leonard would just forget... no harm no foul... but... Leonard didn't like being used this way. He made up a new story... that Teddy was his John G.. giving himself a clue that he knew would lead to Teddy. Which it did. Leonard kills Teddy, having fooled himself into thinking Teddy was John G... hopefully this time he remembers and is happy, or at least makes a note of it somewhere.

Christopher Nolan did some great stuff, but this one ist still my favourite by far. I just love when directors can make great, unique stuff without big budgets.

Ypu are becoming one of my favorite reactors. And this movie was great to watch you react to. The confusion on your face. Priceless. The director achieved his goal. Also,I like your method of reacting. You just react. some others react and never shut up. They go on and on and miss important parts of the movie then say 'I don't understand why ...' It's like going to a movie theater and somebody in the next row just wont shut up. With you, it's like I'm with you and reacting with you. As far as really understanding this movie, there are many different interpretations from people, each one is correct. BTW ... I'm 73. I'm beginning to doubt my memory more and more. I figure 'Hey, this is what getting old is all about. I accept that.'

Oh boy… wonder how many times she rewatched it before she recorded the review section.

I HIGHLY recommend you watch "The Wrestler." It's extremely underrated and just plain phenomenal, plus not that many people have reacted to it. You be one of the very few to do so

Forgets the plot synopsis of Memento. Watches it. The jokes write themself, lol.

Masterpiece! One of my 3 favorite movies in all of history. Obra maestra! Una de mis 3 peliculas favoritas de toda la historia.

Great reaction and analysis as always Whimsory! Keep up the fantastic work 😊

There is a man called Clive Wearing, in the UK, who has the same condition. He literally 'wakes up' every 20 seconds. His diary is both disturbing and sad at the same time. Living like that must be hell on earth.

From experience, having a great memory isn't always wonderful. There's definitely some things best forgotten. Great movie and awesome reaction.

If you want a redemption arc for the actress who played Natalie you gotta see her in The Matrix with Keanu Reeves.

Might as well continue with Nolan’s filmography and see what he’s done to become one of the best 21st century directors and a true champion of celluloid film.

Guy Pearce is one of those actors when you don't know what his performance is going to be before the film. There are some people like Ryan Reynolds where they kind of have one performance and bring it every time, but my favourites are the ones who can mix it up. Chiwetel Ejiofor for instance played an ageing drag performer in 'Kinky Boots', a psychotic villain in 'Four Brothers', a sailor in 'Amistad', an immigrant doctor in 'Dirty Pretty Things' and each performance is so different to what came before. Guy Pearce is similar. What I love about the scene with the hotel clerk ( 3:00 ) is that it explains the structure of the film. It may be my favourite bit of exposition, especially as you don't recognise as such on your first viewing. The medical accuracy is an interesting point, the origin of this movie is a short story by Jonathan Nolan which was inspired by a chapter in the book 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat', which was a collection of neurological case studies. It also connects to another favourite movie of mine, 'Awakenings' as the book that was based on was also written by Oliver Sacks, the author of 'The Man who...'

I saw that movie at cinemas last time..24 year's ago. Thank you for loading it up.

If anyone is criticizing you about anything, I seriously can't see any legitimacy to it. You seem charming and interesting to me. I've got no complaints. So far, so good! 😂 👍

There is room in the world for all kinds of movies, but we are lucky to get someone like Nolan who gives us the kind of movie that makes us think and expand our sense of possibilities. If you watch a lot of movies you'll forget most of them over time, but this one will stay with you.

So there is this REALLY FASCINATING documentary here on youtube about this man named Clive Wearing. He literally has only around a 30-second memory and some of the things he does, such as constantly writing into his notebook "I AM ALIVE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME AT THIS MOMENT" and then scibbling out the previous entry every time as well is just mind-blowing and then also whenever he sees anybody, he states that "This is the first time I've ever seen another human being. I've never seen anyone at all before now" is like WTF!?!? So yeah, there are two separate documentaries made on him, probably like 15 years apart, and they are around 45 mins each. If you look up "Prisoner of Consciousness - Equinox", that is the first one and then look up "The Man with the Seven Second Memory (Amnesia Documentary) Real Stories" for the second one!

Whimsory you’re goated 🔥

Still one of Nolans best

I think your best reactions are to movies of substance. Great job!

We appreciate all the time you put into your videos! You have a unique reaction channel, and it shows. When I saw you were doing Momento, I was legit excited to get your take on it. Wait, what was I just talking about?🤔

Thanks for the video Whimsory! :)

I love Guy's narrative as well. I think it's because, unlike other narratives that are trying to be dramatic, his is like being inside someone's head with their thoughts simply saying what's happening. It's relaxed, almost mumbled, and that adds to the feeling of being in his mind. My favorite scene of that has to be "Oh I'm chasing this guy," shots fired, "Nope, he's chasing me." And the brilliant thing about the movie being cut the way it is, we get to be as confused as he. ~Caroline

My dad was my biggest influence on my musical taste. Especially when it comes to 70s rock and jazz fusion.

My favorite Guy Pearce movie is easily RAVENOUS - Must See!!!

"I don't know who's good or bad, so I just hate everyone!" 😂My new life motto!

I Must be Perfectly Honest Miss Whimsory I Have never heard of this Movie 🍿🎥 Yet I do have 2 of His movies called ( The Time Machine ) & ( The count of Monte Cristo ) The 2 nd is the Best in my Humble Opinion !!! As always the like button ✅ has been Illuminated 😁👍👍😎🇺🇲 Warmest Regards & Wishes for 2024 🌅🌞☀️🏝️🎙️🌎

Always anxious to watch your videos, however, was hesitant to watch yet .( I have not seen this movie) . Could not put it off so i did, need to watch the full movie now because I am really confused. Lost memory opposed to cannot forget, depends on situation. Some things may be painful to remember but worth keeping in your heart. Enjoyed this reaction and as usual love your analysis.

Really thoughtful comments about one of my favorite movies! I never knew that about the "woke up scared" inspiration for the soundtrack. Great video. Dad rock stans unite.

A comedic role Guy Pearce had in the 1990s was in the movie Priscilla Queen of the desert

wouldn't mind forgetting about this movie just to watch it again for the first time.. enjoyed the reaction ; ).

I remember years ago when my high school sweetheart dumped me I was so heartbroken I threw all her pictures away and gifts she gave me because it was too painful to see and I just wanted to forget she ever existed! Years later she’s the one person I think about the most. And it’s annoying because she’s married now and has a family 😩😩

This movie is brilliant. By telling the story in reverse, it puts the viewer in the same situation as Lenny. He doesn't know what happens five minutes ago, and neither do we. During one of his monologues, we see him with his wife. We can also see a tattoo that says 'I got him.' He must have had the tattoo removed. For another movie about brain damage, you should watch 'The Lookout.'

Whenever I hear a movie being narrated by the main character, I think of 2 unforgettable movies from the early 70's. "The Road to Salina" and "A Clockwork Orange". Both had a very strange but fascinating style, that draws you in. The first was one of Tarantino's favorites. He even used some of the music from it in "Kill Bill 2". The other is far more famous. IMO Stanley Kubrick's best! Even though he had a far smaller budget than he had for his iconic "2001" from just before. If you ever watch that, watch the explanation of it on the "Empire of the Mind" channel here on YT. It's the best interpretation of it I've heard yet! 👍

Thanks for another great reaction Dad! Also, I want my 8-tracks back

This movie reminded me of the J.L.Borges short story 'Funes the Memorious' about somebody with the opposite problem: he is incapable of forgetting anything.

I love your outroes no-one else does them well done with coming up with the idea cause you are brilliant with your explanation of the films I really do love it!

Congratulations on 40K subs. The other lists you might want to look at are the American Film Institute's top 100 lists. The first came out in 1998: "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies" and was accompanied by a television clip show on CBS. Five episodes of 20 each I think. With the success of the show the AFI put out a comedy film list of 100 in 2000, and a "Thrills" list in 2001. Then a "Love Stories" top 100 list in 2002. Most "Inspiring" films list of 100 in 2006. Then the original 1998 list was updated in 2007. Twenty-three films dropped out. There's also a list of the 400 nominations that were whittled down to the original 1998 list.

the word that comes to my mind when i think of the score is "haunting". and at the end, just as the movie is about to end... it just so perfectly captured DESPAIR. like a sad, unresolvable despair. re: sammy jankis - i think you might have missed two shots... one where sammy is sitting by himself in the nursing home after his wife died and for a split second, it's not sammy but leonard sitting there. and then there was a shot that was done twice, one where leonard pinches his wife and she says ow. but that shot is replayed with him giving her a needle injection and she says ow. and the cop also tells him that HIS WIFE had diabetes. it might actually be that the rape and murder actually never happened. that he was so profoundly traumatized that HE killed his wife that, as he later does to the cop, he lied to himself so that he could feel better about himself. which makes the movie sooooooooooooo much sadder than it even appears. re: the structure - the really brilliant thing about this movie is that the structure is analogous to leonard's own memory. it is as fractured as his mind and the movie makes you feel like leonard throughout. it's not non-linear for the sake of it... it serves a very intentional purpose. this is, imo, one of the best movies ever made. also - did you miss TRINITY and CYPHER from the matrix?

I love this movie. I seen it at the theaters when it came out. Guy Pierce is such an amazing actor. First movie I ever seen Guy Pearce is a movie called Ravenous which is a messed up movie but good. I like the movie Lockout, Lawless and him playing the bad guy in Ironman 3

Whimsorbeanie back with another banger. Insomnia is another great Nolan movie that tends to get overlooked. Highly recommended.

Is this Whimsory's first movie crush? it's so cute to see.

Yay, you’re back! Don’t know if you remember or made a tattoo about this, but I love your thorough reactions. I am not so secretly (now) hoping this means a Nolan kick is coming up. Interstellar is my (and many others’) all time favorite movie. Anyway, plug over. Welcome back, and …..good luck, we’re all counting on you.

Memento takes place "in the late 90's", and we get to see Cypher and Trinity before they take the red pill and escape.

After watching this for what I thought was the first time, I went to leave a like and it had already been liked. Of all videos for that to happen to.

18:12 is always the best part of every Memento reaction, and you did not disappoint! I can feel your goosebumps through the screen!

I appreciate your dad music affinity.

14:54 Awww, that's a good kitty! ❤

Only movie I rewatched immediately after viewing.

I swear Mark Boone Junior ("Burt") is the late Mojo Nixon's long-lost twin brother.

Guy Pearce is great in this movie. He's also great in The Count of Monte Cristo, and the movie Lockout. I would also recommend The Machinst with Christian Bale. It's another weird trippy movie similar to this one.

One of the all time classics.

My favorite is "okay, Im chasing this guy....nope, he is chasing me"

28:47 - 29:05 '...that's a pretty brutal description, i probably wouldn't have watched that on my own. Luckily I forgot..." Man, if that's not the perfect set up for someone to watch a movie about a man who is lead down various horrific paths due to his memory loss, I don't know what is.

"That's not how it works!" Totally relatable. I get that from my dad. Movies was our thing growing up. But he had a superpower of also being able to notice most the little goofs and things that imdb would point out. Like if Leonard didn't have everything tattooed backward, so he could see it in the mirror correctly. That would drive my dad nuts. Or in action movies, nothing jams and no reload necessary. Or a person shifts a stick into a higher gear to go faster when you would shift lower to get up to max rpm red line.

OH WOW!! Missed this release. One of my favorite movies. Saw it in the theater. My gf knew I liked weird stories, like American Psycho, so she took me to this for my bday. I bought it on DVD in the special edition case that looks like a medical file.

Anything wth Guy Pearce in it is so good...guessing you never had to sit through episodes of Neighbours.

If you want to see a super low budget, highly acclaimed movie, I would suggest Clerks.

Love Whimsory's reactions. In case she doesn't upload between now and Easter I hope everyone has an amazing week and a happy Easter.

After watching this movie, I decided to watch the 'reverse' version. I actually enjoy it more the way it's meant to be watched, but there were some points that were made some sense doing it 'backwards'.

Good job on a mind blowing movie Whim.

I've seen this film nearly every year since it released. Still find things that I've missed.

Used to watch Pearce as Mike in neighbours just showing my age

An underrated Guy Pearce movie is "The Time Machine" from 2002.

Omg! Dodd is #2, Leoben Conroy from Battlestar Galactica (Great TV)

Love your sense of humor. Thanks for the reaction.

Leonard does write that Natalie will help him "out of pity." He does have some skill at reading people's motivations--just not enough (skill).

Hardly ANY Reactors react to Memento. You are among the rare few.

Awesome reaction of my favorite movie!!!!!!😊!😊😊😊😊😊😊

It should be in the top 20...

James, Cameron, wrote and Catherine Bigelow directed a film called strange days. It is set an alternate New Year’s Eve of 2000 where the police have the ability to record memories. Lenny (yes LENNY!) is a memory addict. He has tapes of his ex-girlfriend, and there’s a killer looking for her and he must use his former detective skills to figure out who it is.

It's weird to hear someone talk about being a fan of Guy Pearce and having seen him in a lot of films. This is the only film I've seen him in. 🤣

Ever since I had to start taking epilepsy meds that completely fuck my memory, I found a deep connection to this movie. I'm obviously not as bad as Leonard, but having memory issues can be a truly depressing existence if your faith, dreams, or support structures fail you.

I think you might like labyrinth that has David Bowie in it Jennifer Carpenter it's a fantasy film

Whimsory, this is the third reaction you've done to this movie.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore did a romantic comedy where Barrymore played a character with memory loss called 50 First Dates (2004). Both actors also starred together in Wedding Singer (1998) and Blended (2014).