Top Movies of the Decade #57

57. Memento

Perhaps the most inventive — and risky — plot structure of the decade is in Chris Nolan’s “Memento” (based on a short story by his brother Jonathan, who later would co-write “The Dark Knight” with him.   Move over, Coen brothers.)  It all runs backwards, is terribly disorienting, and keeps the audience guessing from start to finish–which means we identify with the main character, who suffers from short-term memory loss, in this action flick better than in most art flicks; he doesn’t know what’s going on, and we don’t, either.   And yet as the picture becomes clear, in a muddy, horrifying way, it all makes sense, in that none of it adds up to anything, really.  And by the way, beneath that crazy structure is a tight little film noir; all the locations are appropriately seedy, beautiful women can’t be trusted, and everyone’s working an angle–even guy at the front desk of the hotel.   An incredibly ambitious film, “Memento” succeeds in just about every way — including a bunch of ways you’ll likely not notice until the third or fourth time through.