{"id":9306,"date":"2010-10-04T14:49:31","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T13:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=9306"},"modified":"2010-10-04T14:49:32","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T13:49:32","slug":"blu-ray-memento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2010\/10\/04\/blu-ray-memento\/","title":{"rendered":"Blu-ray: Memento"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Memento<\/a><\/strong> (Pathe\/20th Century Fox Home Ent.): The classic 2000 thriller with an ingenious flashback structure about a man suffering from a memoray condition (Guy Pearce) trying to find out who killed his wife with the aid of a police officer (Joe Pantoliano) and a bartender (Carrie-Anne Moss) who may or may not be out to help him.<\/p>\n

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan<\/a>, it firmly established him as a major talent with its clever narrative structure: one happens in reverse chronological order whilst the other shows Leonard in a hotel room on the phone as he explains more about his condition.<\/p>\n

Although on first viewing the structure can be disorientating, the effect puts us in the position of the protagonist and also – like much of Nolan’s work – repays repeated viewing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But aside from the cleverness of the construction, the film isn’t just a technical exercise and is a compelling tale of death, grief memory and revenge.<\/p>\n

For only his second feature, after the low budget noir Following<\/a> (1998), it was filled with technical expertise. Wally Pfister<\/a>‘s cinematography created a distinctive blanc-noir look, Dody Dorn<\/a>‘s editing made the fractured narrative run smoothly and David Julyan’s synth-heavy score established a moving sense of loss.<\/p>\n

It is easy to forget just how good the performances are: Guy Pearce is outstanding in the tricky lead role, painting a riveting portrait of a haunted man adrift in a sea information he can’t process; Carrie-Anne Moss is a convincing femme-fatale with a twist, whilst Joe Pantiolano is wonderfully smarmy as the cop who may or may not be trusted.<\/p>\n

A major independent hit that crossed over into the mainstream, it firmly established Nolan as a talent to watch before he went on to bigger Hollywood blockbusters such as The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception<\/a> (2010).<\/p>\n

The special features on the Blu-ray include extras from previous DVD versions but add a few more (most notably the Anatomy of a Scene and the Memento Mori video):<\/p>\n