Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, a former I. N. S. investigator who was hit on the head during the rape and murder of his wife and cannot remember anything with no short-term memory at all.

The movie starts with the last scene first and works backwards until it gets to the first scene. Sounds confusing? Well it is, but is also a very very fascinating idea.

It completely captures your attention and keeps you thinking, trying to figure things out.

Memento is a very challenging movie, but even more rewarding. Not a whodoneit, but why.

How good is your memory?

Memento is a terrific small film with an unusual structure--it is told backwards, from conclusion to beginning in short overlapping sequences.

Our hero, a man with short-term memory loss, must take Polaroids to remember faces and write notes to remember anything else.

A tense piece of film noir, well worth seeing.

Now how good is your memory?

Memento is literally structured backwards and tells its story in reverse, forcing the viewer to figure out what is happening.

The star's short-term memory flickers simultaneously backwards and forwards like a busted stop watch, endlessly resetting itself to zero.

This psychological thriller becomes a complicated puzzle. I liked the first hour, but became irritated with reverse storytelling, especially when I realized there would be no logical order to anything in this film.