Harbour Highlights: Memento

“I have this condition…”

Welcome to Harbour Highlights, a selection of cult and classic films handpicked by the Harbour Lights staff. This month we go back to beginnings of director Christopher Nolan’s career to put one of his best films back on the big screen.

Playing with themes of memory, reality and time that he would continue to explore in films such as Inception, Dunkirk and Tenet, Nolan’s second film stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man whose inability to create new memories leaves him vulnerable to manipulation from others. Unable to remember who he can trust – or even who he’s met – he relies on instinct, notes and a series of elaborate tattoos as he seeks revenge against the man who murdered his wife.

With great supporting turns from Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss, Nolan uses a distinct backwards narrative structure to create a blackly-comic, brilliantly twisty thriller.