WEBVTT - Memento Review (Archive) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.000 Hey, it's Brooklyn Adams and I'm partnering with Abercommedy to 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.360 tell you about the newest drop from their Active brand, 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:08.800 Your Personal Best. YPB Luggings are made with buttery soft 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.680 fabrics that hug you in all the right places and 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.480 common Abercomy's viral curve love fit designed to eliminate waste gap, 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.639 Paired with sports bras and super soft sweatshirts. It's active 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.200 word that supports every part of my busy lifestyle and 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.840 gives me my best but ever. Heading to the new 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.319 year feeling your personal best. 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The Crown 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:12.760 is Yours Draft Kings Predictions is a CFTC registered introducing broker. 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.040 The then contract trading involves substantial risk of loss one 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:20.040 per new customer, often required non withdrawable predictions dollars expire 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.920 in one year, hence January twenty fifth, twenty twenty six. 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:27.600 Market availability varies. Eligibility restrictions apply. See terms at DKNG 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.280 dot co. Slash Predictions Promo. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.520 Wednesdays are when we like to drop something from the 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.880 Film Spotting Archive for all our listeners. Of course, the 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:42.399 entire archive available to those Film Spotting family members. Now 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.400 on this Friday show, we're going to be doing our 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.280 twenty twenty six movie preview draft, going back and forth 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.600 with picks. Those movies were anticipating the most coming out 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:59.880 this year, and yeah, maybe a movie from Christopher Noland 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.320 might be chosen fairly. 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.560 High on the drive. I can't believe it went seventh. 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.400 Josh crazy, so crazy that we thought six other films 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.560 that we were more excited about than The Odyssey. 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:13.800 Yeah, that was a year. It's going to be. 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:19.640 We do have our draft coming up and that is 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.639 probably the biggest title. With that in mind, we were 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.720 thinking about Christopher Nolan. But Josh, there's there's another tie 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.320 in Sundance is going on. And I don't know if 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.160 you remember this, but Christopher Nolan's Memento screened at Sundance 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.640 twenty five years ago this month. It didn't premiere there. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.440 It had already played at Venice in two thousand and Toronto, 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:46.320 but it did screen at Sundance. So with that connection 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.880 and the connection to Nolan's Odyssey, which we are looking 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.280 forward to this summer, we thought, why not let's go 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.960 backwards maybe then forwards. I don't know how it all works, 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.519 let's try to make sense of it by. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.120 I mean, you got us every time. I've got to 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.600 rewatch it and then figure out what happened. But I 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.600 do know it's brilliant any which way you look at it, 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.080 which we did not too long ago, Adam. Twenty twenty, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.360 we did a Nolan overview, took all of his films 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.120 in order up to that point, watched them, rewatch them essentially, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.720 and had a fresh conversation. This was something we were 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:25.359 doing during COVID and lockdowns, no new releases, no theaters opened, 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.959 thinking about ways to talk about the movie still and 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.920 a Nolan overview was, I think a great way to 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:37.560 do that. So many good conversations, including this one about Memento. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:43.520 Bretman in Los Angeles. I remember nineteen years ago to 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.080 the Dances Film Festival January of two thousand and one 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.600 and seeing a little movie called Amento that completely blew 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:54.400 me away then and we watched it, completely blows me away. Now, 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.760 why is it one of the great Neon wires? Because 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.720 I think it is. I think he uses the mechanics 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:05.760 of film itself, the unstoppable ordering of shots, to create 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.800 a feeling of noir. You're always looking forward and backwards 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.320 in this movie. You have anxiety for the future. You're 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.600 trap by a doom past. I mean, that's noir, and 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.480 either Leonard nor the audience can ever escape it. My 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.200 sound of looking at me kind of funny. Hey, Riley, 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.320 have I ever told you about Memento? Well, go wash 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.039 your hands or remember Sammy Jenkins. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.960 Thank you, Bret. Good stuff there, And certainly the noir 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.520 tradition is a useful lens, a crucial lens in a 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:40.000 lot of ways through which to look at Memento. Momento 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.159 debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September two thousand 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.280 went on to play at the Toronto International Film Fest 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.080 that same month, and then in January of two thousand 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.200 and one it played sun Dance opened in the US 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.120 a limited release at first in March, and at its 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.159 widest release was on about five hundred screens. So for 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.640 a very small film made an impressive twenty five million 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:06.240 dollars domestic forty million dollars worldwide. Got some Oscar attention 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.279 to nominations Best Editing, which I want to talk about. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:13.520 Dottie Dorn got that nomination, and then Best Original Screenplay, 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.320 a nomination that Nolan shared with his brother Jonathan. Jonathan 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.320 wrote this short story that Memento is based on, So 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.320 that story to remind those of you who haven't seen 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.120 the film in a while or didn't get a chance 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.120 to revisit it before. This guy Pierce stars plays a 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.800 man suffering from short term memory loss who's trying to 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.080 avenge his wife's murder and to do that, he has 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.760 a couple of polaroids that hold some clues, as well 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:42.120 as the tattoos pretty much covering his upper body. Those 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.360 are also clues that he's left himself. And you know, 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.919 Nolan didn't think that was complicated enough so he and 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:54.400 his brother structure this in reverse chronological order. I want 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:59.320 to start at talking about Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathan and 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.200 asking you a question related to something we talked about 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:07.040 when we started our OOV review and talked about Following 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.960 and this idea that the twist there were two twists 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.200 in Following, and how we felt while they were clever 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:19.000 and entertaining, maybe lacked that existential slash philosophical heft that 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.279 some of Nolan's later films had. I think that heft 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.120 is all over Memento. I mean, this is this is 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:27.919 I liked Following quite a bit, but this is a 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.840 huge leap watching them back to back, and I wonder 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:35.040 if Jonathan Nolan, his younger brother, if he maybe unlocked 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.000 Christopher Nolan here, If that's a way of looking at 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.720 this film quickly. Jonathan Nolan. He went on to co 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.159 write The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.719 and Interstellar with Christopher, and then on his own. He's 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.960 been executive producer for two TV series, Person of Interest 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.280 in Westworld. He directed a few episodes in each of 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.200 those series. So yeah, going back to Memento, did he 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.040 sort of find a way in this material to provide 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:08.000 that philosophical theft. Think about this one element Lenny Guy 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:13.640 Pierce's character talking about why getting vengeance matters even if 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.080 he forgets that he got that vengeance, and he says this, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.760 the world doesn't just disappear because you close your eyes, 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:26.160 and that is, you know, just one thought that kind 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:30.640 of makes you stop in your tracks and really rethink 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.720 how you've thought about things like time and vengeance and 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.600 morality and reality. And then the brilliant thing about Memento 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.400 is it doesn't just sit there and pontificate on it. 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:42.640 It keeps moving, and it goes moving and it moves 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.600 backwards and you're you know, and so then you're thrown 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:50.240 into another sort of existential dilemma. And so yeah, I 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.080 just thought bringing Jonathan in, whether you know this is 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.320 something that Nolan would have gotten to himself at some 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.280 point or is it something his brother kind of brought 0:07:58.320 --> 0:07:58.800 out in him. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.520 Well, First to quick clarifications, he doesn't like to be 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.400 called Lenny Josh. His wife called him Lenny, so call 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:11.640 him Lennrue. And also just to be really specific about it, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.720 even though I think all of our listeners understand not 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.560 just short term memory loss, but the inability to create 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.560 any new memories, right, that's really at the heart of 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:20.160 his condition. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.080 And watching from the point, from the point of the attack. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.679 Point of the attack, exactly the last thing he remembers, 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.680 The only thing he truly remembers is that attack on 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.880 his wife when his life changed forever. And I'll just 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.520 say this isn't even really a disclaimer. It's just a fact. 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:41.960 I had so many pages of notes scribbled around in 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.480 my notebook rewatching this film, and it was the first 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.760 time I watched it since two thousand and one. I'm 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.360 trying to crack the code of this movie and looking 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.480 for all the answers that I really felt way too 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:55.240 much of a kinship with Leonard, and I finally just 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.080 had to put the notebook down, and I decided that, 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.240 you know what, we're going to talk about it. We're 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.680 going to do our best and we'll see what we 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.120 make of it. And I think that your approach with 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.080 Jonathan Nolan is interesting. I hadn't really thought about it 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.920 at all. It wasn't something that I suppose mattered to 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.080 me as I pondered this film, But I think I 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:18.079 can fit it into some of my thoughts on the film, 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.240 particularly if there's something that maybe Jonathan Nolan unlocked in him, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.960 even though there was already this element at play to 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.360 an extent in following, is that he gave him a 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.960 story that was rooted in some familiar movie conventions that 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.640 Nolan clearly likes to play with. But it did not 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.400 only hint at and more than hint at, force you 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.920 to sort of go down this rabbit hole of larger 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.240 existential and philosophical questions. But he did it with a 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:53.240 story that I think almost demands to be told and 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.320 explored only cinematically. I think that's what matters most to 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.360 Christopher Nolan, and I'll see if I can ex that 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:01.880 a little bit better. I don't know if I can, 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.520 but we heard in Brett's voicemail he talked about the 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.880 mechanics of film itself, ordering of shots to create a feeling, 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.680 and inceptions coming in this Ooh review where you have 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.599 Cob is a thief who casts characters and creates sets 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.680 and scenarios. We've talked about that a little bit on 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.920 the show in the past, and just like Cob in following, 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.839 who's a thief who finds characters and inserts himself into 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:29.920 their sets and their circumstances. There is this meta aspect 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.360 inherently to Nolan that has nothing to do with him 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.400 drawing attention to the fact that we're watching a film 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.480 or that it's being directed by him. That's not what 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.439 he's interested in. But he is taking the tools, and 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.920 he's taking the basic cell structure, the DNA of cinema, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.559 light and shadow and time twenty four frames per second 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:54.120 running through a projector, images and actions, all being manipulated 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.320 by someone through the camera, moves and through edits. And 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:03.080 he's matching that to Mati Cial that similarly relies on 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.000 the manipulation of time. So I think a more concise 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.079 way of putting it would be that he uses film 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:13.480 to tell stories about how film itself functions in talking 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.040 about time and chronology, but also in the way so 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.360 many of his films do deal with dreams and deal 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.400 with memory as well. You can describe dreams and memories 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.760 as they replay in your mind the same way you 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.120 might describe a film, and so all the ways a 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:34.080 linear film structure usually stabilizes a viewer the cause and 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.320 effect chain of events. You understand where you are, you 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.920 understand how you got here, Memento is about a character 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:47.800 completely destabilized HM, where he's floating within this dream of 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:53.400 a past, present and potential future. And so Nolan just 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:58.320 really brilliantly destabilizes us accordingly in a way maybe no 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.679 other movie prior has done, and it does put us 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:07.160 in an interesting position where not only are we put 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:12.920 in that headspace, that difficult, chaotic headspace, and we understand 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.000 his predicament, but I think what I came to realize 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.559 a little bit on this second viewing, Josh, is that 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.600 once you get past that and you do get your 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.000 bearings a little bit, you realize how much it actually 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:27.080 allows you to empathize as well, with Leonard's situation and 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.840 his circumstances, and the fact that we start every scene 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.760 just like him asking those questions that we hear him 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:40.200 sometimes verbally ask where am I? What's happening? Yeah, it's 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.880 still a wonder. It's still a wonder almost twenty years later, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:44.400 and on a second viewing, to me. 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.760 Yeah, that empathetic element is one thing I do want 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.839 to talk about, because that's another thing in following we 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.240 thought was maybe lost a little bit. These guys were interesting, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.120 but were they real people? You know, did we feel 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:55.640 for them in that sort of way? And I think 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.520 this is a leap forward there as well, where you 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.240 definitely have a human in tyst In Leonard, his grief 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.040 is real. He talks about that moment where he wakes 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.800 up in the morning and he thinks his wife might 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.079 still be there. You know, he touches the side of 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.560 the bed expecting her to be there, expecting to be warm, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.559 and she's not, And that touches with a common experience. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.960 I mean, my grandfather, who's my grandmother, died about two 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.199 years ago now, and he will still talk about that. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.560 You know that as an older man in his nineties, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.720 he wakes up and forgets that she's gone in the 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.960 early moments, And that's a very human experience that is 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.600 woven into this movie and gives a real feeling to 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:38.920 it for Leonard. I think Guy Pierce's performance has a 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.840 lot to do with that too, bringing us into it, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.440 and also the Sammy Jenkis subplot, which we can get into. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.000 But I want to go back before we do that 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.840 to your comment about all the notes you took. What's 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.400 notable about that? And longtime listeners will know this, You 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.880 usually don't take notes right. You'll often take a piece 0:13:57.920 --> 0:13:59.880 of paper from me in a pen, but there won't 0:13:59.920 --> 0:14:01.360 be much on there at the end of the movie. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:02.640 It's just not your style. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.200 And so I find it incredibly interesting that this is 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.000 the movie you have more notes than you know what 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.720 to do with. And it makes total sense to me. 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:16.360 Why why does Memento appeal so much to someone like 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.200 me and so much to someone like you, Adam Well, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.920 I'm gonna the answer, I think lies in a quote 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.920 Leonard Gibbs when he's describing his process. I'm disciplined and organized. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.440 I use habit and routine to make my life possible. 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.240 Now I'm probably ninety five percent that guy. I'm gonna 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.560 guess you're one hundred and fifteen percent that guy. So 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.640 there's there's something correct me if I'm wrong and making 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.760 those assumptions. But there's something about this organizational I mean, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.920 this is we do this show built on top five 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:52.560 lists and themes and processes and organization and habits and routines. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.640 And so when you see a movie when that is 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.320 at once being taken away from you. This goes to 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.040 what you were just talking about the filmmaking process. What 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.440 Nolan is doing here he's undercutting all that stuff in 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.520 a way that makes this a thriller and makes this destabilizing, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.920 while at the same time, as movie lovers who know 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:19.200 how films work, we are simultaneously appreciating the superstructure, the 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.840 stitching that is allowing us to be disoriented in an 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.120 oriented way, if that makes sense, and that is the 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:33.080 genius of Memento that I think, if your particular personalities 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.280 in ways that I think we both share, is just 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:37.400 going to blow your mind. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:38.479 Yeah. Absolutely. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.800 And speaking of blowing your mind, I love the fact 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.960 that you've got not only Carrie Ann Moss in this movie, 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.960 but Joe Penaliano, who I like both of them as performers. 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.000 I think they're both very good here, but also just 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:51.920 that they're in this movie at all, because this is 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.240 a film that came out two years after The Matrix. 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:56.800 And if you think about those movies as a pair, 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.080 which I actually do, or at least I do now 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.920 having just re watched this film, these are heady genre movies, 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.200 right sci fi and this neo noir, but they actually 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.720 raise really similar questions about human existence that at the 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.360 time were groundbreaking for me. There were films that planted 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:18.480 something in my brain about the human condition that I 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.880 have never relinquished. And I watch almost every movie I 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.360 see still through this lens, even just in my everyday life, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.640 I take away aspects of these movies that have filtered 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.400 into my subconscious. And there's a different Leonard line I'm 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.680 gonna give you where he says, we all lie to 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.960 ourselves to be happy. And if you think about it, 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.560 Leonard essentially takes the blue pill in this movie. Right, 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.520 That's what's revealed. The harsh truth of reality is given 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.320 to him. But unlike Neo and the others in the Matrix, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.840 he does what Cipher does, what Joe Paneliano does in 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.640 the Matrix. He effectively takes the blue pill to remain 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.200 blissfully unaware atow himself to continue living this new version 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.560 of a happy life. And this time, that tattoo that's 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.520 right there where he can see it most plainly, most visibly, 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.640 Remember samby jenkis the one that's right there by his 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.240 thumb on his wrist. Of course, what he literally means 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.919 by that is remember Sammy, remember that story. But of 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.480 course it's more than that, because he remembers Sammy, Sammy 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.720 is actually in his past. He doesn't need the tattoo 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.120 to remind him of what happened with Sammy. That tattoo 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.920 is there because it has broader implications. What he doesn't 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:37.560 want to do is end up like Sammy. Remember how 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:42.640 Sammy ends up a man with no agency, no purpose whatsoever. 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.480 And that relates to the line he says to the 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.800 Jimmy Grant's character who says, what do you want, and 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.280 he says, I want my life back. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:50.160 Literally. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.480 Of course, on one level he does, he wishes none 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:54.400 of this had ever happened. But what I think he's 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.440 really saying there is I want a life back. I 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.560 need a life that has purpose. I can't be Sammy. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.479 And that brings us full circle to your line. I 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.280 need a life that relies on discipline and organization and 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.800 habit and routine. I need drive. I'm going to give 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.040 myself that drive. I'm not going to be Sammy. Jenkis 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:18.040 sitting at home watching TV commercials. There are moral and 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.080 ethical compromises and questions that come with that that he 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.359 has chosen I suppose his answer to. But he is 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.800 definitely decided that there has to be a path and 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.160 a purpose to his life in order to go on. 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.240 And by choosing to deceive himself, by choosing not to 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:38.119 face the harsh truth. The movie makes us face a 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.560 couple of harsh truths, I think, and one of them 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.800 is this idea that memories, even for those of us 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.399 who are healthy in terms of memory, aren't what we 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.040 like to think of the mass. No, right, you think 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.640 of memories as those are the facts. More than that, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.080 they're my facts. They're my very personal facts I have witnessed, 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.119 I can attest to, and moment makes us face the 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.000 harsh truth that you know, they're just interpretations. They're interpretations 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.040 of our experiences. And you know, like you hear about 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.159 conflicting police reports of you know, two eyewitnesses to the 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.880 same scene that speak to this, and and other psychological 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.919 studies where we do distort well we've experienced in the 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.800 way that we want to remember it. And that's just 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.320 something I think we all know. But when you watch 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.240 something like Memento, where it's put in this context and 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.679 made this stark, it kind of makes us face it 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.840 in a different way. And yeah, Carrie and Moss being 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.360 in the matrix just what like a year or two 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:43.359 before is really remarkable. Looking forward, it reminds me. She's 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.280 obviously been working since, but nothing really quite as resonant 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.080 as either of these two films. So I'm looking forward 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.359 to seeing her in the fourth Matrix film, if we 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.800 eventually get that. I love as Natalie this character, how 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.800 unapologetic she is. That's a word I used to describe 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.520 Betty Davis in of Human Bondage, and I think we 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:02.600 get a little bit of that here, even before we 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:08.040 realize she's using Leonard. There's still this fierceness to her 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.359 that I appreciated, And there's a you know another speaking 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.639 of the humanity in this movie, so many layers of 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.359 emotion and that one tentative kiss that she and Leonard 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.480 share because there is betrayal going on there, there's a 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.520 little confusion, but there's also some real longing in it, 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.480 you can sense, I think, for because these are two 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.040 people who have lost people, right. And then Mosque gets 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.679 that great moment where she gets to act while she's acting, 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.000 you know, get you get a character playing apart. When 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.520 she comes back in the house after Leonard has hit 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.199 her and she sits in the car. I mean, that's 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:45.160 one of the skis. That sequence is where it makes 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.040 it so palpable the condition he's in, Yes, because for 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.720 some reason the edits to him waking up again. Those 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.920 are movie conventions we're familiar with, right, like, Okay, he forgets, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.159 I understand we're restarting. But to see it happen in 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.119 real time where the camera looks at her sitting in 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.240 the cop yes, counting down till she knows his memory 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.000 is going to reset, and then calmly coming to the 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.879 door as if she just arrived. I mean, that's just 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.680 a great little bit because the acting is so good there, 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.679 but also the terror of realizing this is how it 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.080 really happens to Leonard. Yeah, I love that moment. 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.720 I love that you articulated that moment because I don't 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:23.840 know that I had a firm handle on why it 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.520 was so effective. I just know that you're one hundred 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.880 percent right that in terms of just pure thrilling moments 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.520 in the movie, that cut to her sneering at him 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.119 from her driver's seat, knowing what she's about to do 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:37.320 to him, it's electrifying. 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.919 Yeah, chilling, chilling it is. And then another one like that, 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.320 which you know I had forgotten until the chase was on, 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:45.320 and I think it was pretty common in the trailer too, 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.720 is the I think it starts with why am I 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:51.280 chasing this guy? And then second later, oh, he's chasing me? 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:52.720 Or maybe it's vice versa. 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:53.360 But that's just. 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.840 Another great in the moment way of putting us in 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:57.480 Leonard's head. 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.679 Right, Yes, yeah, absolutely a great joke in the film, 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.000 and it probably made me laugh back in two thousand 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:04.760 and one. It definitely made me laugh this time too. 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:09.000 And of course, this being this overview, we are coming 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.240 at these films considering how each film before it, or 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.320 set of films informs it, and beyond some of the 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.720 things we've already touched on earlier in the discussion, just 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:20.280 the fact that you've got a man and a woman 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:24.280