Memento | First Time Watching | REACTION - LiteWeight Reacting
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 เม.ย. 2024
- In this movie reaction I watch Memento for the first time! Momento is a psychological thriller from the brilliant minds of the Nolan brothers that follows a man, with a form of amnesia that doesn't allow him to form new memories, as he hunts down the murderer of his wife.
#memento #christophernolan #reaction #moviereaction
Reaction Edited by: Jonathan S. / @conceptsjrs
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Outro Music: Val Holla by Geographer
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I was convinced it was a play on the movie, lol
Oh god lol fitting for this movie I suppose lol
😂
It works for the intro to Memento, I honestly thought you were going to intro the movie again and again 😂
The fact that you do both in one take…. not bad
As viewers, we experience the movie as Leonard experiences the world. We are constantly given "new" information but it's actually stuff we should already know according to the timeline. By the time we relearn it, we get confused with more "new" information. Such an awesome concept for a movie!
You nailed it!
It also has one of the most subtle lines of exposition I've ever seen, I laughed when I saw it for what it was (on I think my second or third view). The hotel clerk goes something like "So you know what you're doing but you don't know why you're doing it? That's kind of backward" which of course is an explanation for the structure of the film, but it feels so natural for a character to say
The best way to understand the plot structure is this:
Instead of the film being in chronological order: A, B, C...
the film rearranges the timeline in order: Z, A, Y, B, X, C...
Scenes A-M are in black and white, N-Z are in colour. The switch from black and white to colour happens around the end of the film at N, which is in the middle of the timeline.
I still think this is Nolan's best film. Not an ounce of fat in the script/screenplay, and just pulls you in so masterfully. Sometimes I wish Nolan would go back to making "smaller" films like this, his current work is always so massive in scope.
100% agree!
My favorite line of this film is "how am I supposed to heal if I can't feel time?"
That is one of my favorites. Another one is “I can’t remember to forget you” as he’s burning his mementos.
Edit: I wrote this comment at the beginning of this reaction and now that line is pointed out 😂.
This is honestly one of the most haunting and sad movies I have ever watched. The idea of this guy who cannot remember anything after he’s what, late-30s? Going through life, unable to form any new memories, so determined to give himself a purpose that he manipulates himself into murdering an innocent man (Teddy, granted he’s not ‘purely’ innocent, but you get the idea) who will one day be 50 or 60 years old and have 20+ years of their life just completely missing, unable to know what was real, what was the result of other peoples manipulation, what was produced from him manipulating himself etc such a haunting film that really stayed with me. This guy goes through his life creating carnage and impact yet doesn’t’ remember it a few minutes later, as if it didn’t happen.
This story was inspired by a case study in Oliver Sacks's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat", chapter 2 I think, which is titled 'The Lost Mariner'. Part of that chapter, the doctor describes being ashamed and regretful when he showed the patient a mirror which freaked out the patient who couldn't get how they got so old. Jonathan Nolan was inspired by that chapter to write a short story "Memento Mori" IIRC, and that inspired Chris Nolan to make this movie, but yeah, that haunted aspect may be what inspired the short story in the first place
For an additional movie connection, Oliver Sacks also wrote the book Awakenings which was adapted in to a film
Joe Pantoliano, who plays Teddy(and Cypher in The Matrix) is also a really cool guy in reality. A buddy of mine lived in New York and ran into him at a coffee shop one morning. The two of them took a picture for facebook and had a coffee together. During their conversation, Joe picked up his stirrer and said “There is no spoon.”
That’s super cool!
I just found out he was in The Sopranos too.
@@Xehanort10 He's great at being awful in The Sopranos.
@@dplunk13 J.P. was also quite good in the crime/mob related genre 1996 movie 'Bound' with Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon.
@@Xehanort10 me vs lightweight gaming, who would win
My favorite line from this film is “I can’t remember to forget you.” Very sad.
There is a scene after Sammy accidentally kills his wife and is in a home where for a split second he turns into Leonard.
Back in the 90s, the DVD version had an option to play the scenes in chronological order. When you watch it in order, you realize that the movie isn't nearly as suspenseful, and reversing the scenes (like Nolan did) adds all of the mystery
The only issue is the movie came out in 2000
@@MikeTaffet ?
@@Slask7 The comment said "Back in the 90s" - hard for that to be true if the film was released in 2000.
@@jhornacek right, I forgot.
@@jhornacekAnd to be even more precise it wasn't widely released until March of 2001, before then the only people that had seen it were at film festivals.
The DVD was released on Sept 4th 2001 and even then only the UK (region 2) DVD had the chronological feature. That didn't arrive for US (region 1) until it was re-released with the limited edition DVD.
The black and white scenes turn into color when Leonard takes the photo of Jimmy Grants' body and he's watching the photo develop. It's so subtle that most people don't notice it, and a few minutes later they say "Oh, we're in color now, when did that happen?"
Great reaction to a great film. Nolan shot it so the viewer experiences how Leonard views the world. He can't make short term memories, so he finds himself in situations that play out then he forgets how he got there. We watch the situation and have no idea how he got there.
Effectively the film starts at the end. On the DVD version there's an option to watch it chronological order.
I gather the chronological cut of the film wasn’t his idea but just an extra feature for home video.
I haven’t watched it, but those who did said that besides making things a little more clear it’s not a rewarding experience. The film truly shines with its unique original editing, and that’s the way it should always be experienced
I felt like I watched this vid before. Must be Deja vu
Nice!
The dvd of this movie (yes, I’m that old) allows you to play this movie in the sequential order instead of backwards. Surprisingly, it makes more sense backwards.
I remember the DVD for this movie had a "hidden" special feature that allowed you to watch it in chronological order.
I grew up with this one, my step-dad owned the dvd so I watched it a lot as a kid. Absolutely one of Nolan's best and a classic
That’s really cool! I need to watch it more to fully understand it I think!
@@LiteWeightReacting In fairness, the dvd had an easter egg that let you watch all the scenes in chronological order that definitely helped lol. Not sure how you'd find that now
@@Fable91that feature was only on that Special Edition DVD and how I first saw Memento. That's what my brother had and I still have the DVD on the shelf. He had a printout inside of how to play it chronological. After I finished the movie, I punched it in and sped through it again in chronological so that it all made sense to me.
@@Fable91 who would win a fight between me and lightweight gaming
@@megafan2000 me against lightweight gaming, who would win
One of my favourite Nolan films! You should watch his analysis of Memento with a simple chalkboard. It shows just how much a genius he is!
Can't wait to rewatch this along with you over on Patron!! Keep up the great work, Teegan!!
The picture showing less developed in the opening scene represents Leonard memories fading away. There is a video on TH-cam of Nolan explaining how the scenes in the film work and lineup
Watching ur brain melt in front of our eyes was fantastic. But way to nail it.
I think the way the backwards story telling works, is that each part begins with a Question, and the part "after" ends with the answer. So, you're constantly moving "forward" in your understanding.
Insomnia is a Nolan worth seeing.
You're right. I always forget about that one. Pacino is awesome, watching him burn out during the course of the movie from lack of sleep. This was a remake of a Dutch film, I believe.
Yeah, I love the editing style in this film. The shooting does a great job of instilling the constant confusion that the main character feels as the audience has to figure out what the heck is going on in each scene.
And a narrator that has no memory is a great way to install an unreliable narrator into a story.
Love watching your brain working it through after! The confusion you feel when watching the movie I always thought gives you a sense of what main character is feeling. Great reaction as always!!
Guy Ritchie is so underrated and an Aussie I think? Speaking of Aussie, Australia won't win any polls but it's such a gem 😊
Fun Fact: the special edition dvd of this movie lets you watch the movie in chronological order!
I can say without exaggeration that watching this movie for the first time back in college (around 2002 or 2003 for me) changed my life. It completely changed the way I look at film and watched movies.
Clicked so fast for this one! You really had me at the beginning 😂 Great reaction, as always! ☺
Thanks!!! Glad you enjoyed this 😊
Great job getting so much after 1 view! Just subbed and looking forward to the rest of your content.
That's the best explanation I have heard about this movie from reaction channels/reviewers. 🧠
Instant thumb up ! Memento is my favorite Nolan's film, glad you finally watch it !
My all time favourite movie. This got me on the Christopher Nolan train and I'm still on it. I don't think I'll ever watch anything like it in my lifetime.
You got so much of this film on your first watch - well done.
SHE DID IT. I’m so glad you got a chance to experience this masterpiece.
So excited for this! Truly a unique and film where there is nothing else like it.
oh boy! my favorite Nolan film! i still remember having this feeling of shock and awe when i finished it! i can rewatch it over and over and STILL develop that same feeling by the end of it!
In college my dorm friends and I were so into this movie. I can confirm that there is a version where it is all in chronological order and it's weird to see it after watching the backwards timeline. You caught way more than I did the first time I watched this film. Great stuff as always Lite!
There's an old video clip here on TH-cam of Nolan explaining the timeline visually. Really helpful and easy to understand.
Wassup Liteweight how are you today really enjoying this channel and can't wait for more videos 😊
Thanks Omari! Hope you enjoy the video!
Kudos to you, you actually guessed the end early...
I never thought about the lower case and upper case writing, that's a great observation.
Damn girl, we need more than 1 reaction every 2 weeks 😂 I know life gets busy but they’re great!
Great reaction as always❤❤
This has become my favorite Nolan film. Its hard to pick cause he has so many great movies, but it’s hard to get over how creatively told this story is and how effective it is too. It’d be really easy to make a gimmick movie like this where the gimmick is the only selling point, but telling the story in reverse is only part of what makes the story and plot so impactful. Great reaction and review as always
After watching this movie a dozen times in my life I feel the simplest way to break it down is to understand that essentially everything Teddy (aka John Gambol) says during the ending is true. Teddy is an officer & he did help Lenny with the case of the assault. Lenny & his wife were assaulted in their home but though it is true that the attack resulted in his impairment, his wife wasn’t murdered. She did have diabetes & did test Lenny post-assault. My own interpretation of the Sammy story is that Sammy was an unmarried fraud who simply pretended to have the memory issue that Lenny is later cursed with. The trauma of his wife’s “final test” was critical enough for Lenny to disassociate, framing that tragedy as just one of the wild stories from his days in insurance investigation. If Lenny convinces himself his wife was murdered during the assault then he never has to confront the fact that he put her into a (potentially fatal) coma. The main mirrored tattoo in combination with the Sammy tattoo on his hand both exist to solidify that false narrative & essentially conditions him every day to erase the truth and think of himself and Sammy as separate people. Teddy is a cop & he was indeed one of the few who believed his condition funnily enough resulting in him being the one who really helped Lenny out of pity while Natalie was the vicious liar. Together, Teddy & Lenny hunted and killed one of the real suspects so the blood stained picture is real. But like Teddy says it didn’t stick & the fractured Lenny continued to be desperate to hunt down a killer convinced that closure would come. Using his connections & leads as a cop & undercover Teddy did use Lenny as a personal hitman, targeting criminals like Jimmy using Lenny’s vengeful motivation as the fuel to kill them. Teddy is also being honest about the fact that he benefits by separating said criminal victims from their ill gotten money as well. And you were right, Teddy was desperate for the car because he figured it contained the money. And another place people get tripped up is the phone call which IMO is Teddy who is feeding Lenny information on Jimmy ie the new John G he wants to eliminate.
Imagine, this movie was one of the first Christopher Nolan's movies. You could tell back then that Christopher Nolan is special. When you look on the projects of his brother Jonathan Nolan, on whose short story "Memento mori" this movie is based, then you can say that this family is something very special.
They're effing brilliant, so far ahead of all the rest of us.
Truly...........a unique movie -going experience..........glad you enjoyed it. Good post, as usual.
How am I supposed to heal if I can't... feel time?
This line is so insightul, so powerful, and honestly, sort of gives away the ending (or is it the beginning?) of the movie: he can't.
This movie is essentially giving the viewer the experience of growing through memory loss with its scene structure. Trust me, this movie gets BETTER every single rewatch for me.
There’s actually a VERY quick cut of Sammy sitting down at the hospital and someone (a nurse i think) walks in front of the camera and it’s no longer Sammy, it’s Leonard sitting down…implying that maybe Teddy was right.
A long time i always felt that Leonard never lied to himself bcuz i liked him. I felt bad for me but that’s the beauty of rewatching this, you start to see those tiny details. After all, he has short-term memory loss, it instantly makes him not the most reliable narrator. “Do i lie to myself to be happy? Yes I will”
Congrats on reaching 20k subscribers here! Good to see you getting rewarded for all of your work!
Pumped for this! Thanks!
Hope you like it!
Late to the party today, but enjoyed the reaction and breakdown as always!
To the best of my recollection I haven’t watched this movie myself (☺️). One of these days, I need to watch it through instead of just the reactions.
Wow, great summation! I’ve see it, plus other reactions, but I think you may have a better handle on what’s going on. I love how Nolan always challenges you with time. OH, great selection with Green Mile. Looking forward to that. Always great reactions, Teach!
Great reaction as always. The Christopher Nolan journey continues.
Hope that 'Dunkirk' shall be next. It is an excellent historical drama.
We actually had to watch this when I was in college for a course on images of the body in modern fiction. It instantly became one of my all time favs.
Oh brand new video yay. Good way to start into Christopher Nolans movies.
Hope you enjoy this reaction as well as all the other Nolan films I’ve reacted to already!
Memento scrambled my brain.
I needed to watch it a couple of times to pick up on everything.
Seriously! I need to go back and watch it again too 🤣
It took me several times watching the DVD to understand.
And the dvd had a special disc. It's mental health questions, so Beautiful 😍
There is also a way to see the film in chorological order on the special edition DVD.
Great reaction.. I saw this movie in early 2000 and was very confused.. watched it again couple years ago and was confused again :)
This was Nolan’s first mark on cinema and made him a huge rising talent in the industry. Still his best screenplay to date, imo.
Memento is structured like a temporal pincer. If you know, you know
@20:36 You are Correct, she is from the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 🫡
Holy shit i never realized the lowercase cursive. You were on it immediately.
Not sure if anyone else answered you, but yes, that is Jorja Fox from CSI. (I always remembered her for some reason)
Great reaction like always, love this movie and there are some fum-facts about it. As it turns out, the origins of Memento at the hands of Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan developed during an extended road trip. This movie opening scene was an inspiration for Tenet (another great movie from Nolan you should react to it, and it also have a connection to Oppenheimer).
The actor that played Sammy really had amnesia in the past in flashback, we see leonard visit Sammy Jankis someone he’d investigated, who suffered from short term memory loss. Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Sammy, had taken an experimental painkiller when he went under surgery years before, which had induced amnesia. he told this to nolan during his audition, and has since said this first-hand experience of amnesia probably helped bag him the role.
That scene when Teddy shouts, ‘you don’t have a clue, you freak!’ at leonard at one point in the film. when he was watching it back during the editing stage, Christopher Nolan realised the words ‘you freak’ weren’t to his liking, so he recorded over joe pantoliano’s voice with his own for those two words. Keep up the good work.
Don't feel bad about getting everything. It took me more than a few times to fully understand it. I commend you for stating a good hypothesis in the middle of the movie
"My head hurts" ... Yeah, Nolan's movies kind of have that effect on you, especially on the first watch. You saw Tenet so you know Nolan takes the whole forward/backward time thing and puts it on steroids. Dunkirk is more of a straightforward movie, at least as straightforward as Nolan gets, but he still plays with time in the structure of the movie. Very tense movie and Hans Zimmer's score is incredible. And you will cry during this one. Enjoy!
My brain hurts but enjoyed the reaction again!
So does mine 🤣
It’s Nolan’s 2nd film & it holds up well. Came out I think 2000 or 2001
Colored scenes moved backwards, literally putting you in the POV of Lenny. The black& white “cut” scenes were moving forward but it was just ONE conversation in a room that eventually meet when Lenny left the room & took the photo of Jimmy.
He remembers killing his wife, barely, but he doesn’t want to. He lies to himself as Teddy told him, he doesn’t want to face that reality . He wants to constantly “look” for “the killer” bc it gives him purpose & keeps him from remembering what he actually did.
Another Nolan Movie... another awesome Reaction. I really enjoy your Reactions... this Nolan is a sneaky little Bastard and is always messing with your Mind - but that's the fun of watching his Movies!
The only thing I have for you as kind of a critique - I don't want to wait another 2 Weeks for your next Reaction... one Week is already long enough - LOL
Anyhow, keep them coming and have a great Day and greetings from Germany 😉
You did better than me, I had to watch it a second time to work it all out correctly
Love The Reaction! When will the patreon version be up?
I love this movie and what it does to make you think. One of Nolan's best.
AFAIC watching TENET the second time still almost qualifies as "first time watching".
I think you got this a lot better than I did the first time :P. I would recommend watching 'The Night House'. Kinda scary, but also a great story with amazing acting.
my favourite Nolan movie. a perfect film
The DVD of this movie has a version where everything is in order
Not a movie I thought I would watch again, but I probably will to see your full reaction on Patreon. You're a smart person and I'm interested in what you thought and noticed about certain things that I might not have caught when I watched it!
You asked about the word memento at the beginning. A memento is something you keep to remind you of someone or something. It could be something like a necklace you keep because it reminds you of your grandmother or a t-shirt you keep to remind you of a concert you went to.
You really need to watch Tenet for the biggest mindfuck of them all. Probably Nolan's most underrated flick!
This one is one one Nolan’s best mind benders for sure. I was like you the first time I watched it and by the end I thought it was one of the most brilliantly crafted movies I’d ever seen. I’ll tell you right now, Tenet is visually stunning, but forget trying to figure that one out. I watched it some time ago and I’m still confused 😂
Unlike his first film (Following), which was written and filmed chronologically and then edited in a different order, with
Memento Nolan wrote the film in the exact order you watch it. Because that made it easier for him to connect each color scene with the next (previous) one having all the twists and details hit the right spot.
“I don’t know who to trust anymore!”
Just like you said at the end, that’s the feeling the movie wants you to experience: with the color scenes edited in reverse order the watcher is disoriented just like Lenny, you’re given only tiny pieces of information the more you progress, but at the same time you discover that things were not like you thought.
This is the “unreliable teller” trope of film noir to the extreme! Memento gained Nolan his reputation as one of the best neo-noir filmmakers.
There’s a video on youtube with him explaining the movie’s timeline if you’re interested. Basically the two parts of the movie (color and b/w) run towards each other and they brilliantly match in the scene where the picture of Jimmy’s corpse becomes visible after Lenny took it, and the cinematography becomes in full color in sync with the polaroid.
Joe Pantoliano was Tommy Lee Jones' (Dep. Marshall Samuel Gerard) right hand man in The Fugitive. He's in a lot of good movies as a supporting actor. He won an Emmy for his supporting work on The Sopranos.
If you want another Memento-like with a crazy coming together at the ending, check out Predestination (2014). It's the closest to a Nolan film you can get from someone else.
Teddy is also in The Matrix just like Natalie!
Memento mori is a Stoics principle, it means: "Remember death". You should interpret it like, keep in mind, you could die in any minute, so always act like if it would be your last day on earth.
He's the world's most perfect hitman/serial killer, because people use him for any reason. And also, he allows it. He purposely only writes/remembers certain things. This gives his life meaning and purpose.
Great reaction! It's always fun to see someone react to this one because nobody knows exactly what's going on for most of the movie and they still end up enjoying it. You're also the only one I've ever seen that noticed the handwriting. In fact, I've never noticed it before and I've seen the film several times as well as quite a few reactions!
If you want to see Guy Pearce (Leonard) again, check out L. A. Confidential with him, Russell Crowe, and Kevin Spacey. It's a really good crime thriller set in 1950s Hollywood.
I'll second that recommendation for LA Confidential.
Oh now I recognise the voice! Cypher from the Matrix!
Awesome movie, was quite a mindfuck when I saw it
What I never understood is how he knows that he has this memory condition since he mentions it all the time, obviously he must've been told about it after he got it, so how can he remember learning about it?
He is in another well acted movie..The Count of Monte Christo….
Your post reaction commentary was honestly more entertaining than your actual viewing the movie. LOL
There's a video around somewhere of Nolan (and maybe his brother who'd responsible for the Westworld reboot and the new Fallout series) standing in front of a blackboard drawing out the timeline. Worth looking up.
Something that always surprises me is the sheer coincidence that Leonard happens to have the exact same affliction as Sammy Jenkis, who he happened to investigate for insurance purposes.
@25:56 When he says that the police aren't looking for John G. because they don't think he exists. If he couldn't remember anything since the attack he wouldn't know that off the top of his head! That's a plot hole, but I wouldn't have noticed if they didn't put that in the script in the first place.
The different writing on the tattoo is because in tattoo shops, it's usually someone else with different handwriting that gives you the tattoo.
With so much confusion I thought it was strange you stated that (probably erroneous) point as a matter of fact.
Watching this movie for the first time was such a mind fuck , i also knew next to nothing about this when i watched this movie years and years ago all I knew is that it was a great Christopher Nolan movie that's it and let me tell you it felt like my brain had melted , this was the first time i had watch a movie that played out of order and i was like WTF is this ? 😂
Serious mind fuck! 🤣
@@LiteWeightReacting 😂😂
@@roderick8167 me against lightweight gaming, who would win
Love your reaction here. Can't wait till you watch Tenet. It's the most Nolan of all his movies. Memento and The Prestige are still my favorites.
Just got to the part where you mentioned Tenet. I suggest watching it again. Now that you've noticed some Nolan themes, it would be interesting to watch.
I remember when Guy Pearce was in Neighbours 😊😅
Following in the theme of crime suspense that you feel like you have to watch again after the ending shocks you, you should watch The Usual Suspects.
There is a very "blink and you miss it" scene when he is explaining how Sammy Jenkins was faking the recognition look and someone passes in front of Sammy, but the man sitting there after the guy passes is not Sammy anymore it's Leonard, for like 3 frames of a second, very clever foreshadowing
'Love this film !!!
Just want to point out again that Following and Insomnia are also Nolan movies :)
(even though the latter one was a remake of an earlier Norwegian film)